


Aetherium

by CynziDragonPazza



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Brave (2012), Homestuck, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Moana (2016), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Hijack March Madness 2018, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Trans Character, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-07 11:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14080266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynziDragonPazza/pseuds/CynziDragonPazza
Summary: A new video game is in beta test by an entrepreneurial group of game developers at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. For the test, a raffle was held throughout the country's colleges to collect enough testers to play the game. It's the pinnacle of virtual reality, or at least the gaming students hope so. But nothing's going to go wrong! It's just a game!...Right?(Written for Hijack March Madness 2018)





	1. Day 1: Prologue (free)

Across the country, students watched the livestream video on varying screens with bated breath. The anticipation was thick in every participating college, for this was an opportunity of a lifetime. After all, the chance to beta test the newest step into virtual-reality gaming was a rare event indeed.

The game was called Aetherium, an immersive MMORPG that was said to be the next revolution in gaming. It would be as if the player literally stepped into the game. Its creators, an enterprising team of students at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, compared it to the Animus of Assassin’s Creed–-except real rather than fictional.

In the main auditorium of the institute where the raffle was being held, a group of five (plus one robot) chatted. “This is gonna be so cool! I bet we’ll get to fight monsters, and maybe I can be a kaiju like my hero suit! Oh, that’d be sweet!”

“Fred, there’s a hundred people in this raffle, for this college alone,” Gogo deadpanned. “It’s literally a 1-in-100 chance we’ll get it.”

“We still have a shot!” he replied, spirit undampened. “Right, Honey?”

“Yeah! And even if we don’t, we can still talk with the gaming team and watch with them,” she added.

A hush fell over the crowd as one of the gaming developers walked onto stage and straight to the podium. The brunette was grinning as she surveyed everyone. “Thank you all for participating in this exciting chance of a lifetime! I’m Kayley Lancaster, lead developer of Aetherium. Manning the computer is my gorgeous girlfriend Charlotte Kells, and the other two gay people running technical analysis are Kristina Zarrilli and Cynzia Swider.”

The brunette at the laptop waved, and the two purple-haired people, well, one did finger guns and the other did a two-finger salute.

Kayley rolled her eyes. “Anyway. So! As you know, when you signed up for the raffle you put down your cell numbers and email addresses. The way this raffle is going to work is that we have a special program set up to randomly choose specific names. Said names will show on that screen,” she added, gesturing to the screen behind her with the Aetherium logo-–its name in fancy cursive script and a very pretty shade of green. “First is going to be the names of students at SFIT, and then we’ll start choosing names from the other colleges joining us! So! Who’s ready to get started~?”

The crowd started cheering as Charlotte brushed some hair out of her face and hit enter. The Aetherium logo was replaced by an hourglass cheerfully wiggling back and forth, emails flickering behind it. Once the hourglass’ bottom bulb had filled it was knocked over by a dragon as the first name blinked into being.

_GoGo Tomago_

“Wait what.”

“And we have our first winner! Come on up, GoGo!”

The bike fanatic moved through the crowd, looking thoroughly confused. “I only did this because Fred made me,” she said.

One of the purple-haired people grinned, the action crinkling their cheeks and making their glasses go up just a bit. “Don’t worry, you’ll love the game! There’s something for everyone, we made sure of it.”

GoGo raised an eyebrow. “Just what do you mean by that exactly?”

“Your in-game character can be designed for every nationality, romantic and sexual orientations are customizable so you are not stuck in cisgender-heterosexual designs, and you can design your character’s body however you want.”

“…Okay, I’m interested.”

“I thought so.”

Another name appeared on screen. _Sofia Flores_.

“Oh, that’s me!” Honey bounced through the crowd and on stage, joining GoGo.

In quick succession the last three names fell into place. _Fred Lee. William Hawkins. Hiro Hamada._

Wasabi raised an eyebrow and looked at the teenager. “Why do I have a feeling you had a hand in this?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hiro said far too innocently.

Cynzia, the one who was wearing glasses, was handing out special virtual reality headsets to the winners. “Congratulations!” She winked one bright green eye at Hiro. “Funny how that happened, hm?”

“I thought it was a college drawing, what’s a high schooler doing there?”

“Hey, screw you, I’m in college!” Hiro huffed at the annoying asshole that had accused him of not belonging before looking at the headset. “Hey, this is kinda like, the headset I used for my microbots!”

“Nice eye,” the other purple-haired person replied with a smirk. The key difference was that they were a little shorter, their hair had a more blue sheen to it, and there were no glasses in front of silver-grey eyes. “Thanks to your paper on those, I used that as a basis for these. I’m Tini, by the way. They/them pronouns. Great job on that, though I bet you had someone proofread it,” they teased.

Hiro grinned and shrugged. “I’m smart, not that good a writer though. Still working on that.”

“Give it time, you’ll get it!”

Kayley turned back to everyone else in the auditorium. “Thank you all for participating in the raffle! While you won’t get the chance to beta test the game, you will however receive your own copies of the game a month before we officially release it! And keep an eye out for the bonus content, since you are the lucky 100 in the raffle you get it for free! We didn’t want you guys to think you’d get nothing out of this deal. That concludes the raffle for SFIT, but if you want to stick around we’re continuing the raffle for the other colleges that have joined us! Have a great day, and keep your phones and emails open for any other goodies you may get!”

Charlotte hummed as she twirled a thick lock of dark-brown hair around her finger. “Now, for you five, you’ll want to come to our department with these headsets. You can play around with these a little bit, there’s a small intro game already installed in them. It’s a tutorial that’ll let you get used to the controls in it and such. Just don’t go too crazy with it, okay?”

“…Why are you looking at me?”

“You have a rep, Hiro.”

“GoGo, you didn’t have to be so quick!”

Kayley giggled and turned to look at the screen, watching names continue to fill the screen. “With every name that’s picked, everyone is going to get a text and email automatically sent to them. The headsets have already been made and sent to the colleges. This is going to be amazing!”

Across the country, students all had their phones out, watching eagerly for any text messages. Soon enough various phones began to buzz or ring, prompting groans or cries of elation. As the students were chosen, each one had their own reaction.

One Jackson Overland jumped out of his seat. “Yes!”

“Mr. Overland, care to share?”

He slowly sat back down, blushing but grinning. “Just, uh, won a drawing and got the notification.”

“Well, congratulations, but please focus on the lesson, hm?”

“You got it, ma’am. Won’t happen again!”

The professor simply stared at him. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

In another college, Hayden Haddock nearly burnt himself when his phone sang Fairytale by Alexander Rybak. “Son of a dragon!” he growled, turning his torch off and flipping up his welding mask. When he saw the notification, however, he grinned. “Oh, sweet! Toothless, we’re in!”

The little dragon android purred and nodded in understanding.

And that, dear friends, is where our story begins.


	2. Day 2: Adventure

_Day Two: Adventure_

On the day of the beta test, Hiccup walked into the room where he and the other winners would be testing the game. “Hey! I didn’t know you won too.”

Astrid grinned from her seat. “Sure did! I just got back from our away game too so this is a perfect way to relax.”

“You’re going to pick a warrior, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?”

The professor who would be monitoring the group smiled at him. “Take a seat, we made sure to  bring in comfortable chairs, just in case you’d be here a while.”

“Thanks.”

“Hello there, Hayden!”

“Oh! Uh, hi. Aren’t you Kayley?”

“The one and only!” The game developer waved from the screen she was watching from. “I’m just checking in on my winners for Berk University. So there’s you, Astrid, Spencer, Finnegan, Roquelle, and Tyrell according to my list.” She squinted at her paper. “Well, using their real names, unless they’re really named Fishlegs?”

Hiccup chuckled a bit. “Funny stories behind the nicknames. But please, call me Hiccup. That’s what everyone does.”

“He had a fit of hiccups in school when we met,” Astrid added cheerfully.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Astrid.”

Kayley giggled a bit. “Well, if you want, you two can already head into the game! You may not appear in the same spawning areas, but you should be able to find each other in one of the central town hubs! Any questions?”

“Can we actually log out?”

“Of course! You can go into an inn or set up camp, and when you log out after setup it’ll save your place. There’s also a built-in protection so that if you’re not logged in, you won’t get attacked by anyone.”

“Is everyone starting at level one?”

“All beta testers, yes. There are fifty levels, separated into four classes: novice, apprentice, journeyer, and master. Ten novice, fifteen apprentice, twenty journeyer, and five master. The novice levels are pretty easy, but it’s the apprentice and journeyer ones that are pretty tough. Master levels are tedious, but oh so worth it. Myself and my other devs will pop in now and then to check on everyone, we’re already at the top master level.”

“Just how much of a class range is there?”

“Oh, quite a bit! First it depends on what kind of overarching species–dwarf, elf, shifter, human, very similar to D-n-D or Tolkien. After that you can choose the race or ethnicity, and so on. The classes we have are the Barbarian, Paladin, Monk, Cleric, Bard, Druid, Mage, Ranger, Rogue, and Witch. There’s more detail in the game.”

“Huh, not bad. And are there subclasses in each class?”

“Of course, but you decide on that once you reach apprentice level.”

“Will we feel hunger in-game?”

“Not really, more of a feeling that you should be hungry and that’s when you would eat in-game. When you actually start feeling hungry though you can just set up camp, log out, and take a break! You’ll also get a notice that you’ve been playing for more than four hours so you should probably take a rest. Especially since in-game time is faster than out of the game.”

“So like, a day in the game is more like, what, an hour out of the game?”

“Close! I don’t actually have the exact time measurement in front of me but it’s similar to how in Assassin’s Creed you would see the passage of time but night would only last oh, ten minutes or so, and then it’s back to day.”

“Well, I think that’s everything. Astrid?”

“I’m good too. We covered everything.” The blonde pulled the headset onto her head and adjusted the visor in front of her eyes to fit properly, leaning back in the recliner. “Wake me up when it’s lunchtime.”

Hiccup chuckled a bit and waved at Kayley. “See you later.”

“Take care! Have fun adventuring!”

He grinned and slid the headset on, leaning back as well. There were a few surprises he had added, and it may have been cheating, but he wasn’t about to leave his best bud behind. Pressing the on button, he closed his eyes.

* * *

_“Welcome to Aetherium. What is your name?”_

“Uh, Hiccup.”

_“Hello, Hiccup. Please tell me about yourself.”_

In front of his eyes a menu popped up. “Oh boy. That’s a lot.” He picked the option labeled  _Sex/Gender_  and looked it over. “Huh, so you can choose your sex but also your gender, that’s a really nice touch–-and they added intersex! That’s rare, you don’t see that.” He picked out what he felt was most appropriate for himself, and then continued on until he had a body as close to his real one as he could get. He glanced down and chuckled. “At least I have underwear.”

_“Please choose your class.”_

“Oooh, choices, choices…” The brunet eyed each one, and then clicked Mage. There were subclasses of Mages, in case he wanted to already pursue a path. He clicked on  _Undecided_  for now, which then gave him a choice of outfits. “I’m guessing certain classes have certain outfit requirements, makes sense. You wouldn’t give a rogue heavy armor. Now, go with these pants, those boots–-I had almost forgotten what having two feet was like-–then this shirt and these robes…okay, looks good.”

Two packs then appeared hovering in front of him. “Dungeoneer’s pack, or explorer’s pack…let’s go with explorer’s.” He grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder.

_“Please choose your zero-level and level-one spells.”_

He hummed as he carefully examined each spell at the zero-level. “Five zero-level spells and three level-one spells. Not bad. Looks like I get more spells each level too, nice. Now, which ones do I want…Definitely  _Blade Ward_ , and I really like  _Shocking Grasp_  too.  _Message_  would be good for any allies of mine. Oh,  _Sword Burst_  is a good one too! One more zero-level…” He tapped his chin in thought before smirking. “I do like this one.” What was a little mayhem without a  _Chill Touch_?

The list of level-one spells made him groan. “Oh come on! That’s even more! And only three?” He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Okay,  _Shield_  is a no-brainer. What else…” He dithered for some time before finally selecting on  _Comprehend Languages_  and  _Witch Bolt_. “Okay. Now what?”

_“Please choose your magical origin.”_

“That’s not bad. Let’s see, divine magic, draconic bloodline–well, how could I choose anything else?”

_“Congratulations! You have been randomly selected for a special dragon selection! Please choose your rare dragon to bless your bloodline!”_

Hiccup examined the three dragon buttons in front of him. A very familiar symbol hovered in the middle and he smiled sheepishly. “Okay, it looks like my tinkering added something. But, it looks like the game accepted it just fine. Now, I wonder what this does…”

_“You have selected the Night Fury. The Night Fury is the rarest dragon, found in hidden places of the darkness. The unholy offspring of lightning and death, this dragon rarely blesses those with its power. A mage blessed by the Night Fury is capable of power one can only dream of–but be warned: the mage may succumb to the dragon’s ire and be consumed. If a mage can master this power, however, they may become the greatest mage Aetherium has ever seen. Are you satisfied with your choice?”_

He smirked. He was never exactly one to ack down from a challenge. “I am.”

A little notification blinked in front of him.  _“It seems that the Night Fury who blessed your bloodline has taken a personal interest in you, and wishes to join you on your adventure! Do you accept the request from Toothless?”_

“Yes! Oh, it worked, that’s so awesome! Ooh, I’ll have to make a note in my report, oops. But it’s nice to know you can add mods!”

_“Character review. Hiccup Haddock. Sex, male. Gender, male. Orientations, demisexual panromantic. Human, from the country of Aecrath, 20 years old, undecided mage blessed by the Night Fury. Do you confirm?”_

“Yes.”

_“Thank you, Hiccup, and may you succeed on your quest!”_

* * *

As Jack walked through the door that had opened in front of him, he blinked a few times to adjust as the light changed from blinding to regular sunshine. “Oh, wow…” He slowly spun in place. “It’s like I’m in a real forest!” He could smell the dirt and feel the wind brush against his cheek. The staff he had won by random choice had a rough texture, like the varnish was just enough to waterproof it, but he could still feel the crevasses and bumps in the wood. “This is really impressive! I’m gonna have to compliment the devs.” He smirked. “I wonder…”

_BONK._

“Oh, fuck! Okay, I can’t glitch through a tree.” The rogue rubbed his head with a grumble before looking at the fork in the road. “Hm…Northby to the north, Springdell to the east. Let’s go north, there should be snow!” Whistling a cheerful tune, Jack took off down the northern path.

He was pleased to note that his stamina was decent and Northby wasn’t too far away.The sun was just starting to kiss the horizon when he walked into the town. There was an inn not far away, but he took a little bit of time to wander around first. The jingling pouch of starter money all beta testers were given almost convinced him to buy some fancy knicknacks. Almost. But he figured it was better to save it until he started taking on some quests. He did, however, buy a map of Aetherium before heading into the inn.

“Welcome to the Prancing Pegasus! My name’s Darcy, how many nights are you staying?”

“Uh, not entirely sure. Can I just pay per night?”

“Of course! It’ll be two gold pieces a night. Dinner and drink can be added to your tab.”

“Works for me, put it under Jack Frost.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Frost! Come to the desk when you’re ready to head to your room. Dining room is to your right, please don’t cause any fights or the cost will be on your tab.”

“That’s a little too realistic,” Jack muttered as he headed into the dining room. He found that all of the tables were occupied, but there was one in the corner with only one patron. He was pretty cute too, even with the random black scale patches and rounded ear fins. Sauntering over he gave the stranger a friendly smile. “Hey, is this seat taken?”

The stranger looked up from his map and Jack was struck by two things. One, was just how green the other’s eyes were. Two, a sudden bubble with information popped up next to the guy’s head. Judging by how said gorgeous green eyes widened, he must have seen a similar thing. “Uh, no, go ahead. Uh, I’m Hiccup.”

“Jack. So, I’m guessing you’re another beta tester?” the silver-haired rogue asked while returning the handshake.

Hiccup nodded as he sat back down. “Yeah, I guess we can see other beta testers’ information when we meet. That’ll help with knowing who’s an NPC and who isn’t.”

“Mhm. I have to say though, it’s a little unnerving how…realistic it all is.”

“Tell me about it. I’m regretting giving myself two real feet.”

“What?”

“Oh, I’m missing my left leg from under the knee down. Long story short, burning timber fell on me.”

“You’re not pulling my leg?”

Hiccup choked on his water with a cough that turned into a laugh. “Okay, since we just met I’ll give you a pass.”

Jack snickered and gave him a wink. “Can I get more than a pass?”

“Well, you  _are_  pretty cute, but do you meet my standards?”

“…your dragon ears and freckles are cute.”

“And now you’ve met all my standards, congratulations.”

Jack couldn’t stop laughing even while Hiccup was giggling next to him. “I think, my dear Pleasured Moan, this is the start of a beautiful partnership!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's day 2! Trying to keep up with the days, I know I'm waaaay behind but it's been hard to do much writing due to how busy work has been. But it's slowed down, so I should be getting back into the swing of things over the coming days!


	3. Day 3: Bulbous

Jack opened his eyes and blinked. “Okay, that was...crazy.” He pushed the headset up off his forehead to rub at his eyes. “Bathroom break, food, quick report to the developers and then back into the game.” Pulling the headset completely off his head he ruffled his hair--chestnut brown compared to the silver white of his character--and sat up with a stretch. “Owwww, there goes the spine.”

One of his fellow classmates was already out of the game and was watching him. “Having fun, Jack?”

“Oh yeah, you know it Pitch.” The brunet grinned at Kozmotis Pitchener, known to his friends as Pitch, while pushing his glasses back on. “I’m guessing you went with death mage?”

“Of course I did. You went with...bard?”

“Rogue, actually.” Jack grinned as he set his headset back down on the chair. “You gonna head out anytime soon?”

Pitch shrugged as he looked at the headset held in his hand. “I may go back in, but I’m undecided. I do have my pottery project to check on in the kiln. I’ll take care of that first and then come back probably. Everyone else is still in the game, looks like they’re enjoying themselves.”

Jack grinned at their fellow classmates. There was Ana, the dentist who had transferred to the College of Burgess from India humming slightly; Aster, his best friend and Pitch’s boyfriend(?); the sort-of-old man Nikolai who had pretty much adopted them all as the group dad to Ana’s group mom; and Sandy, the local narcoleptic. “I’d say so far it’s a hit. You like it?”

“I do. I’m quite intrigued to see where the game will lead us. I have a feeling that there is no one ultimate goal, except to level our characters up completely,” the Egyptian native hummed as he stroked his chin. “It makes me wonder if we can choose different storylines, and when we complete a storyline that means we technically win.”

“I’m going to take over a kingdom.”

Pitch snorted and stood up to stretch. “Good luck with that, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Jack laughed and left the room, giving himself a little shake. He hummed softly to himself as he walked out of the science building and toward the student union. The University of Burgess was an excellent liberal arts and education college, but what a lot of people didn’t know was that its psychology program was one of the nation’s finest. It was why he chose it for his education degree--well, that and the full scholarship. It helped that his house was a half hour away, so while he stayed at his dorm during the week, on weekends he would go home and visit his mom and sister.

He gave his mom a quick call over lunch, perched in the branches of a tree. “Hey, Mom! How’s the book going?”

_“Ugh, don’t ask. Characters won’t do what I want them to and now I have to figure out where this fits into the overall plot. How’s everything?”_

“Really good, got an A on my last paper!”

_“Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear it. I remember how it took you forever to figure out the value of hard work in high school.”_

“Hey, I’m still all about the fun times!” he laughed. “But if I wanna be a great teacher, I gotta work hard, right?”

_“Indeed. Will you be coming home this weekend?”_

“Um, not sure. I do have midterms coming up in two weeks, so I may stay here to do my work.”

_“Alright, I’ll let Emma and Jamie know. But you’ll definitely be home for Easter, right?”_

“Always! Who else hides the eggs as well as I do?” He laughed as he leaned back against the trunk. “But I do have those spring week plans, so I definitely plan on enjoying the beach!”

_“So long as you make sure to use your sunblock, you know how badly you burn if you’re not careful. And you keep me updated while you’re away, I don’t want to not hear from you all week!”_

“I’d never do that! You know me better than that Mom.”

_“You know that I worry, Jack. And don’t forget your medication, including your shots if you need them. And, well, I know you’ll have everything taken care of, I just…”_

Jack smiled softly. “I’ll be with Aster and Pitch, Mom. You know how those two are when it comes to me. I feel like all of my friends have pretty much adopted me as their kid. Well, except Sandy, he’s the weird best friend slash uncle who helps me with my pranks.”

His mother laughed and he could imagine her shaking her head with thick brown curls bobbing with the motion. _“As long as you stay with them, I know you’ll be in good hands. Are you up to anything else?”_

“Oh yeah! I started the beta test of Aetherium today! So far it’s pretty amazing, it feels almost exactly like reality! And they have this incredibly inclusive characterization menu so I could make myself however I want--they even had options for if you want to be different genders and sexualities!”

_“That’s wonderful! How do you feel in it?”_

“Oh, I kept myself the same. I’m pretty happy with how I am now, I didn’t want to change anything.”

_“Really? You didn’t want to try anything?”_

“Nah, not right now. Maybe my next time playing when I make a new character it’ll be someone totally different. But for now I want to stay the same as I am here.”

_“I understand. Keep me updated on the game though, it sounds fun!”_

“It is! It even has settings for different age groups so that depending on how old you are, you’re allowed certain things. Kayley--one of the game devs--said that almost everyone in the beta test had all features unlocked, but there is apparently one 14-year-old genius who isn’t.”

_“They really have thought of everything! You said it was a team of four people, right?”_

“Two girls and two enbies. The girls are dating, not sure on the other two but they are really close, I could tell. Oh--hang on, got a text Mom.” He pulled his phone from his ear to see who it was. “Looks like one of the game devs are online and want to ask us questions. Gotta go Mom, love you!”

_“Love you too, darling, have fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”_

He thought back to the stories of just how much of a wild child Julie Overland nee Wingham was. “I’m pretty sure that just means don’t get caught by the police, Mom.”

She snickered. _“Exactly. Talk to you later!”_

“Bye!” He tapped on the End Call button and hopped off the tree branch, the rest of his lunch in hand as he whistled a tune. Upon his return he found the others out of the game as well. “Morning guys! Where’d you all wake up in?”

Aster cracked his neck with a hum. “I’m in someplace called the Warrens of Arbas the Woeful. S’all apples, starting a hunting quest,” he drawled. “Went with a Ranger. You?”

“Rogue!”

“Of course you did, ya showpony.”

On the screen, Charlotte was watching with her chin in hand and a relaxed smile on her face. “Glad you’re all enjoying yourselves. Anything you want to share so far?”

Ana grinned as she brushed her hair out of her face. “I made a Druid, so far it’s fun! Very realistic with nature, I’m really impressed by it. And the animals are lovely! I love it.”

“What _I’m_ impressed by is the characterization menu,” Pitch added. “You really took into account _everyone_ who could play. Race, gender, sexuality, I can’t think of anything else to add. I’m very pleased with my Shadow Mage.”

Charlotte nodded. “Anything else?”

Nicholas cleared his throat. “I made a barbarian, but was wondering. Can we do multiclass?”

“You can,” the game developer replied with a smile. “After you get past the novice levels and become an apprentice, you can decide to multiclass. You don’t have to, of course, but if you want to say, be a mage and a cleric, you can do that. Or a barbarian and a paladin! We made sure to keep the options open.” Nicholas looked particularly pleased at the notion. “Have there been any glitches, any problems?”

“You can’t glitch through trees,” Jack mentioned. Aster groaned, Ana giggled, Pitch and North both rolled their eyes, and Sandy grinned.

Charlotte however looked terribly unamused. “Did you try to walk through a tree?”

“Maybe.”

“I think we’re done here. Keep your teacher updated and send us messages if you spot anything that needs adjustment. Have fun.” With that the brunette clicked off.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, before Jack bounced back onto his chair. “See ya on the other side!” He pulled his headset back on and activated it.

* * *

When Jack next opened his eyes he saw the ceiling of the inn. He was pleased that while the devs aimed for realism, that didn’t apply to bedbugs in the mattress. He stretched with a groan and looked to the other bed where his new questmate lay. The bubble of information again popped into view.

 _PleasuredMoan229_  
_Level 1 Unaffiliated Mage, Draconic Bloodline_ _  
Allies: Toothless, Frostbutt1221_

“Wonder who Toothless is,” he hummed. “Pretty cool though. Maybe we’ll get some kind of special enemies list too.” Deciding to do some more research, he opened his map up to look it over. “Warrens, warrens...oh ew, we got thrown all over! It’s going to take ages to even meet up with everyone.” Jack scratched his head with a sigh. “Then again, we’re supposed to be testing the game. Might be better to just keep going as we are now.” On the map was a little blue blinking dot indicating where he was. “Nice. Huh, i see Northby but not Southdell. Wonder why.”

“Probably because it’s a small town and the map only shows large cities and areas.”

Jack jolted up with a yelp, shooting a giggling Hiccup a glare. “Jeez, took you long enough, Sleeping Beauty.”

“Then you should’ve kissed me awake,” was the teasing reply. Jack then learned that he could also blush in the game, judging by the heat in his cheeks and Hiccup’s growing grin. The brunet came over and sat on the bed next to him to look over the map. “Huh, interesting. Looks like the more we explore, the more the map gets updated.”

“Ooh, cool. So I’m thinking, we stay here for a bit and do a few jobs--I saw a job post board, if we do some of those I think we’ll level up!”

“Nice! We can do some grinding, then move on?”

“If we’re going to be grinding it’s not gonna end there, I can tell you that.”

It was Hiccup’s turn to blush. “Not what I meant, frostbutt.”

Jack simply quirked an eyebrow with a grin. “Says the one whose username is pleasured moan?”

“You can blame my friends for that one.”

“Hell, I’m gonna thank them if I ever meet them, you certainly do look capable of--”

“Oh, look at the time, we should get going and stop that particular conversation!”

“Aw, come on Hiccup, it was just getting good!”

The brunet turned to the other and poked him in the chest with a grin. “Take me on a date and we’ll see.”

Jack smirked. “In game or out of game?”

Hiccup hummed as they left the room. “Let’s see where this goes.”

* * *

 

“Oh, hello! I’m Sally Mander, local druid and healer! Are you here for the garden job?”

“Yep! Jack and Hiccup, at your service!”

The tiny dragonborn clapped in pleasure, beaming up at both of them. “I’m so glad! The pests have been ridiculous, and I haven’t been able to clean them all out long enough to spread my special pest control potions. Now, I think there’s actually a hive that needs to be removed and I can’t do it alone. You’ll be paid, of course!”

Jack raised a hand. “Aren’t you all about animal friendship and stuff?”

Sally wrinkled her barely-there nose. “Not these. If they were just bees or something beneficial that would be one thing, but Scorpiosprites are another.”

Hiccup grimaced. “Scorpiosprites?”

“Small flying scorpions,” was the glib reply. “I can’t do it on my own, but if it’s two people it can be done! Do this for me and I’ll pay you _quite_ handsomely.”

Again, Jack held up a questioning hand. “Uh, are these scorpions--”

“Scorpiosprites.”

“Yeah, those, are they poisonous?”

“Individually not very, but if too many sting you it can be fatal. Don’t worry, I’ll give you antivenom and healing potions!” She smiled as the other two relaxed. “Do we have a deal?” at their nod she clapped again. “Great! The garden gate is right over there, I’ll be right back.”

The two watched her rush off into the cottage before looking at each other. “Cheerful dragonborn, ain’t she?”

“I like the name pun,” Jack added with a grin as the two strolled to the garden gate. “Hope we get more NPCs like that!”

Hiccup hummed as he tried to get a better look inside the garden, but there was some sort of barrier that made everything hazy. It was like when he had his contacts out. “I wonder what’s inside the garden. I really can’t tell.”

“Me neither. It’s like when I lose my glasses or Emma steals them.”

“I was thinking of not wearing my contacts.”

“Thank god we were able to give ourselves stellar vision.”

“Thank Odin for that.”

“Did they allow Norse pantheons in this game?”

“No, but I’m a Wiccan who follows the Norse gods.”

“Huh, that’s pretty cool. I was raised Protestant but I’m pretty much agnostic. Do you read palms and such?”

Hiccup simply offered a hand. Jack let him take it, wondering if it would even tell him anything since it was a computer-generated avatar or something along those lines. Hiccup’s claw tips barely grazed along his palm which made him shiver just a bit. “...Hm...it says here...that you’re a nerd.”

Jack gaped at the grinning mage for a moment before laughing hard, using his staff to brace himself. “You fucking _dork_ ,” he gasped. “I can’t believe I fell for that!”

Hiccup was snickering as well. “You’d be surprised how many people ask that. But I do Tarot readings, and runestones as well.” One of his ear fins twitched and he glanced back toward the cottage. “She’s coming back.”

Jack followed his gaze, and after a few long seconds the little dragonborn came scurrying out. “Nice hearing. Came with the scales?”

“Yep.”

Sally hurried over to them with a bag containing bottles, which she handed to them. “Here you are, dears! Once you clear the Scorpiosprites out, come back and meet me and I’ll pay you!”

“Question, what’s in the garden?”

“Oh, just my mushrooms. They’re all medicinal and are of great benefit when it comes to healing potions. Off you go! Good luck!”

* * *

 

Hiccup and Jack looked at the garden in front of them and then at each other. “...The druid said it was just mushrooms, right?” Hiccup asked hesitantly.

Jack looked leery of the monstrosities in front of them. “Yeah, but they _gotta_ be magical, why else would they be so...bulbous?”

“...I feel like it’s a really, _really_ weird garden of Bad Dragon dildos.”

“Oh thank god I’m not the only one who thought that.”

“Let’s just hope one of these isn’t one of those weird plants with vine tentacles that’ll fuck you senseless.”

“I dunno, that’d be a hell of an adventure. Plus we’re over 18 so it’s not like it’d be illegal to have it in the game for us.”

“Just how much hentai have you seen?”

“Very little, but fanfiction can get _hella_ crazy.”

“Point. What weapons do we have?”

“I got a bow, 20 arrows, a rapier, two daggers, and this fancy shepherd’s crook that’s supposed to have magic powers I get to unlock over time. You?”

“Two daggers, a quarterstaff, and my magic.”

"I think we can handle those bugs." Jack grinned and gestured toward the path ahead. "Shall we?"

Hiccup returned the grin. "Let's."

They walked further in before finding the path branching. A bit of discussion had them following the left hand path. A loud hissing caught their attention, and from behind a vibrant purple mushroom came a Scorpiosprite. It looked like a normal scorpion except for a few differences. One, it was bright mottled green and yellow. Two, it had translucent wings. Three, it was at least a foot long. Jack grimaced. "It looks like it belongs in Australia."

Hiccup laughed as he drew his dagger. "It does, doesn't it?" A health bar appeared over the bug, similar ones appearing over the two players. Hiccup also had an energy bar for magic. The sudden battle music made them jump with a surprised laugh. "Almost forgot this was a game!"

"Please let there be a badly rendered wall for an enemy to burst through!" Jack added, grinning. "Okay, it's a big flying scorpi--shit!" He managed to block it with his crook before it could sting him. It gave Hiccup the chance to swipe at it while it was reeling back. Luckily he had enough strength to dent the carapace. "Nice one!"

"Thanks!" Hiccup flexed his free hand in an almost thoughtful manner. "If we wreck its wings, it can't fly. That'll give us the chance to kill it."

"Ooh, a pretty face  _and_ brains? If you have money I'd think I hit the jackpot!"

"I'm in college, what money?"

Jack snorted even as he hooked the pest with his crook and slammed it into the ground in one fluid motion. "Fair point."

Before it could recover Hiccup stabbed it, and it made a pathetic little screech before it collapsed into a dead husk. A little notification alerted the two that they had both received 10 experience points. The brunet grinned at Jack. "Not bad for our first fight."

"Better than I expected." He leaned against his staff with a smirk. "Gotta admit, that was pretty hot."

Hiccup flushed and gave him a playful shove as he stood back up. "I'm playing the game with you, you don't have to butter me up."

The rogue waggled his eyebrows. "What about lubing you up?"

"Oh my  _gods_ you're awful." He shook his head as he wiped his dagger clean of yellow blood. "You still haven't taken me to dinner yet, so you're going to have to wait on that. I don't just put out on the first quest."

"Clearly, that means we're stuck together then."

"Oh, the tragedy."

"My dear Hiccup!" Jack pressed a hand to his chest with a look of mock offense. "I'm hurt!"

Hiccup grinned and started walking down the path, Jack hurrying to catch up. "You'll survive. Come on, knowing these kind of quests, the hive will probably be either in the center or at the very end of the garden."

The rest of their time was spent walking in circles, going deeper and deeper amongst the multicolored mushrooms. Each Scorpiosprite they killed provided them with 10 experience points, so by the time they made it to the center they were both sitting pretty with 150--halfway to their first level up. In front of them at the center was a large mound, a soft buzzing coming from it. The two of them approached it warily, not sure what to expect.

Several Scorpiosprites came flying out, followed by one that was 6 times larger than the worker sprites. It was an acidic green with blue splashed across its weaker carapace, but its stinger was much more threatening than the smaller sprites. When it caught sight of the two it screeched.

Both Hiccup and Jack blanched. "Oh shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, day 3 is FINALLY finished! Now I can keep going and hopefully catch up within the next few days! Keep your eyes peeled!


	4. Day 4: Chance

"And how is _this_ a level 1 quest again?!"

"Okay, I think it's going to be one of those battles where it sends the drones at us, and then after we kill them the queen attacks, and then after so much damage she summons up more."

"Yeah, but it isn't exactly going to be easy!"

Hiccup pulled his quarterstaff off his back and held it in both hands easily. It reminded him of sparring practice with Astrid. "You have a rapier, use that! It's a good fit for you because you're lean, and as a rogue you're probably quick on your feet! Use your agility to your advantage!"

Jack glanced at him while letting the staff hang on his back and pulling the sword from its sheath. "How do you know so much about weapons?"

Hiccup grinned, ear fins twitching in excitement. "I'm a blacksmith in my spare time, it's an occupational hazard!" Right as a Scorpiosprite flew at him he wound up and _slammed_ the staff into it. The sprite went whizzing off to the side in a daze as he spun around to knock another sprite away. Racing to the first downed sprite he shoved the staff into its center, easily snuffing it out.

Jack was admittedly distracted by just how impressive Hiccup was with fighting, but then focused back on the fight. The intense battle music played through his mind as he dodged out of the way of one attack. To his surprise, it was as if the moves were ingrained into his body. Step, parry, thrust, step. He figured that the game automatically gave him the ability to fight, similar to how a game avatar would have programmed moves that matched with button combinations. There must have been a lot of programming put into the game.

The first wave finished, the queen screeched again and jabbed toward them with its stinger. Rather than it stabbing them, it shot out a bright yellow liquid that they dodged, and it steamed as it hit the ground. Jack's eyes widened. "Is she shooting acid at us?!"

"Shit, is this a damn pun on being in a mushroom garden and dropping acid?!"

Jack lost it laughing even as he hid behind a large rock. He dropped the rapier and pulled his bow out, aiming for its eyes with arrows. Hiccup pressed against the rock with him, panting. He barely glanced at him as he nailed a hit with an arrow. "What's the plan, Pleasured Moan?"

"I have some ranged spells. If I hit her with those, it'll give you a chance to get in close and do some damage. I have a couple of zero-level spells that will work, but let me know if you need a shield because I have that as a first-level spell too," he added as he shook his hands out. The sound of liquid smacking against the rock and hissing filled the air. "Sound good?"

"Oh yeah. Go!" Hiccup dashed out and, taking a stance, thrust a hand out. Blue lightning shot out, connecting with the queen and creating a glorious arc of energy. It shrieked and writhed even as Jack rushed around. Hiccup canceled the spell, and while the queen reeled from the attack Jack managed to jump up and stab it with his own dagger in a particularly fleshy part. It wasn't as heavily armored as the drone Scorpiosprites. It shrieked again with a shudder while Jack jumped off and rolled with the landing. "Nice job!"

Hiccup grimaced while the queen hovered backwards, another wave of drones coming their way. "Here they come!" A group of four quickly went at him, but he allowed it so that he could summon a spectral wave of swords that swept around him. He wasn't able to stop one from managing to sting him since it came in low and hit his leg. "Agh!" His health bar blinked and decreased by a small margin.

"Hiccup!" Jack growled and to his own surprise executed a flawless slash that cut a Scorpiosprite in half. "How'd I do that?"

"I dunno, but keep doing it!" When another one tried to stab him he by sheer dumb luck managed to grab its stinger and send a shock through it. The Scorpiosprite essentially cooked inside its shell and dropped to the ground.

The rogue slid out of the way of another Scorpiosprite and delivered a blow that sliced its wings off, and then he stabbed it. Shaking off the yellow blood he managed to block another that tried to sideswipe him. "You doing okay, Hic!?"

"Yeah, just gonna need some of that antivenom!" The health bar over Hiccup's head blinked and decreased again. "If I don't get it I think this is gonna keep draining my health!"

"Shit, just what we need." Jack took out the last one and dragged Hiccup behind a grotesquely large mushroom. "Here, drink this," he said, shoving a bottle of antivenom into the other's hand. "I'll keep it distracted." Right when a shot of acid splattered against the mushroom he dashed out into the open. He had always been fast, being on track and field in high school and college as well as participating in parkour for fun. He lingered in one place before running right as another shot of acid was spat from the tail. Jumping, he grabbed a leg and scaled the beast, up to the top of a wing. It reminded him of an iridescent sail, and he stabbed it. Letting gravity take over, he sliced through the wing before jumping off. It let out a piercing shriek as it became clearly unbalanced. Its health bar flashed and another chunk was gone. Two-thirds of health remaining.

Before it could summon another wave of drones Hiccup shot another bolt of lightning at it. Its health dropped to three-eighths of its original amount. "I think if we survive one more wave of drones we'll win!" he called out to Jack. His magic bar was at half depletion, but his health bar had stopped draining at three-fourths. He pulled his quarterstaff back into his hands as the queen drew back, allowing a final wave of Scorpiosprites to fly toward them. "Think we have a chance?"

Jack grinned even as one clipped his arm with a sharp claw, his own health dipping down a margin. "I think we got this in the bag!" He used his crook to hook a sprite and swing it to Hiccup, who used his staff as a bat and hit it right into another. "Lucky shot!"

"Touchdown!"

"Wrong sport!"

"I only know sportball!"

"You fucking nerd!" He laughed and dodged, rolling and coming back up with his dagger out to slice off a wing. The sprite screeched and managed to latch onto Jack with a claw. He yelped, grabbing the tail to stop it from stinging him. "Hiccup!"

The brunet saw what had happened and ran over. Using his dagger, he sliced the claw off neatly at a joint before prying it off of him. "You ok?"

Jack looked at the blood seeping into his sleeve with a grimace as he grabbed his crook. "Yeah, hope they have dry cleaning. Duck!" He swung the crook over Hiccup's lowered head to send another one flying. "How many left?"

Hiccup turned in place as the remaining Scorpiosprites came at them. "Six!"

Jack smirked and held his rapier in one hand, the crook in the other. "I think we got this."

Hiccup held the same smirk as the hand not holding his staff crackled with blue electricity. "Should be a piece of cake."

"With sprinkles on top?"

"Don't forget ice cream on the side."

"Yeah, but that works better with hot apple pie."

"True."

"We should see how far apart our colleges are and maybe try to actually meet up for a pie date!"

"Not a bad idea! Let's just finish kicking these things' asses first!"

Jack laughed even as his arm throbbed, fending off an attack neatly. Hiccup had electrocuted one sprite and taken out another with a sweep of spectral sabers. He on the other hand managed a lucky thrust and skewered a Scorpiosprite. It squirmed on the blade like a disgusting live kebab before he flicked the sword hard enough to fling the sprite off. They continued in this vein until the last one fell on the ground, at which point they both ducked behind different mushrooms. The queen shrieked, but instead of the pause between each individual acid shot it actually flew to one of the mushrooms and chopped it with a large claw. Hiccup swore and ran to another mushroom, letting it move close enough to shoot another lightning bolt at it. Jack could see the magic meter drop down, and the brunet was looking fatigued.

Hiccup on his part took the opportunity to draw the queen further away from Jack, even as he got close enough to do another Sword Burst. "If you have any plans, do it now!"

The rogue simply nodded and notched an arrow, watching his quarry carefully. There was one particular spot that was exposed, right in the chest where a piece of carapace had dropped. When Hiccup shot a final lightning bolt he loosed the arrow. His aim wasn't perfect, but it did do enough damage to make it drop to the ground, stunned. "Now, Hiccup!"

Hiccup's hand snapped and sparked as he shoved it into the open chest that the carapace had exposed. The queen let out an ear-piercing shriek that had Jack covering his ears and Hiccup wincing. The creature writhed in agony before its death throes ended. While the two adventurers let themselves collapse on the ground with relief, numbers popped up over their heads. Hiccup watched a notification bubble pop up in front of his eyes. "Hey, we leveled up!"

"Yay..." Jack waved his uninjured hand in a motion meant to display his pleasure. "Take me to space hospital."

That quote made Hiccup snicker even as he forced himself to sit up. "Isn't that from the 80s Voltron?"

"Yep. Heard rumors of a remake, but nothing's happened." Jack pushed himself up so that he could drink a healing potion. Tossing another to Hiccup (who miraculously caught it to his surprise) he watched his arm as not only the skin but the cloth itself knit back together. "Damn, why can't we get this for real?"

"It'll put hospitals out of business," Hiccup replied, finishing off his own. While it restored his health, his magic for first-level spells would have to replenish on its own unless they could find an apothecary selling ethers. He stood up and looked at the carcasses around them. "Huh. Guess they don't go away like in most games."

Jack groaned as he grabbed the offered hand, standing up. "Don't care, I just wanna get paid." He couldn't help but grin as he looked at Hiccup. "Still, our first boss fight! That was awesome!"

"And we get some bonuses too!" Hiccup laughed and gestured with his head back toward the path. "How about we head out, get some food and rest, and then decide where to go from there?"

"Deal."

* * *

"Oh, thank you so much for your help! I'll finally be able to harvest the mushrooms, and my business will be back to normal! What did you do with the bodies?"

"They're, uh, just in the center or scattered around," Jack managed sheepishly.

The little druid waved it off with a twittering laugh. "No worries, I can use them for more antivenom. And as promised, your reward!" She handed the two of them a decent sized sack. They both received notifications of accepting 500 gold pieces. Then Sally ushered them into her cottage, where she proceeded to bandage them up and also give Hiccup an ether for his energy. "Just rest up for a bit and you'll be right as rain," she chirped, running a hand through cornsilk hair. "And don't do any quests or jobs for another day, ok?"

Hiccup gave her a small salute with a smile. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. You're welcome to stay as long as you need, I'll be in my store. And do stop in whenever you're in Northby, dears, I do like to hear a good adventure when you have a chance!" The little dragonborn slipped into a side door that presumably led to her little shop.

The two were silent on their chairs for a bit before, predictably, Jack broke it. "So, what college do you go to?"

The other looked over at him, still letting his energy recover with the ether's help. "Berk University. You?"

"University of Burgess. Where's Berk?"

"Oh, it's up in northern Maine, it was named after an old Viking that had come over from Norway and made a settlement there. Now it's a decent sized city named Berk too. What about you?"

"Pennsylvania. It's a town that's the border between Amish country and real civilization." Jack wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Some of those Amish people are fucking nuts."

Hiccup let slip a surprised laugh. "Really?"

"There are some cool ones and then there are some that are waaaay too religious. It's like why I hate Jehovah's Witnesses--don't push your religion on me and we'll be fine, respect other people's beliefs."

"Amen," Hiccup added with a chuckle. "Think you're ready to go?"

Jack hopped on his feet and stretched out his lithe frame with a satisfied sigh. "I am! Come on, I'm game-hungry!" He grabbed Hiccup's hand and pulled the startled mage out of his seat and out the door, asking after Hiccup's major. The brunet lit up and began expostulating on his biomedical work.

The entire walk to the inn, they kept their hands intertwined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I just wrote that fight scene and that it came out so well! -proud of self-
> 
> Alright! Our star couple has just hit their first level up! The chapters are going to start getting longer from here on out, so be prepared! Especially since things are going to get heated up -wonk-


	5. Day 5: Dust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For texts between Jack and Hiccup, Hiccup's are italicized and Jack's are both italicized and bolded.

"...And I swear, I didn't mean to send Jamie on such a dangerous sled ride, but next thing I knew he stuck a brilliant landing in a snow bank! It would've been fine if it had ended there and if a couch hadn't suddenly slammed into him and he lost a tooth."

Hiccup choked on his beer, laughing. "How in Hel did a couch hit him?!"

"Apparently when the couch fell out of that moving truck it hit an ice patch that went downhill fast enough that it had enough speed to do some damage!" Jack was blushing in embarrassment but still laughing at the fond memory. "Thankfully it was a baby tooth that was already loose, or else his mom would have my hide!"

"Jeez, you're pretty dangerous to be around! Maybe I should stop adventuring with you before something happens and I get turned to dust," Hiccup teased with a little nudge of his foot.

Jack raised an eyebrow and returned the nudge. "Come on, I'm totally worth hanging around with! I'm all about snowballs and fun times, promise!" He even batted his lashes at the other with a sweet smile. "Don't leave~"

Welp. Hiccup's heart skipped a few beats and he could feel his cheeks heat up. "Eh, you  _are_ pretty cute...maybe I'll just keep you around as arm candy."

"But what if you were  _my_ arm candy?"

"Mm, I think I'd rather we be each other's arm candy." He winked at Jack with a grin.

The rogue hummed, putting his chin in his hands. "So, you think we could actually date outside of the game?" His expression had turned from playful and flirty to serious.

Hiccup put his mug down and laced his fingers together on the table. This was no longer a joking matter, and deserved his full attention. "I think we could figure something out, absolutely. I'm not one to hit it and quit it, for one thing. I'm demisexual, any romantic relationship I get into I'm in it for the long haul. As it is, I really do like you, and I'd love to at least try."

Jack nodded in agreement. "I'm not demi, but I've had my fill of one-night stands myself. Did all that in high school and first year or two of college, I'm good." He smiled as Hiccup chuckled softly. "So, we're going to try this? Long-distance boyfriends and stuff?"

Hiccup gave him a surprisingly shy smile, which paired with the elongated canines to make a surprisingly adorable image. "I'm game if you are. Is there anything you want to know about me?"

"Mm...thoughts on the gender binary?"

"All genders are valid and if anyone tries to pull any transphobic crap around me I will not hesitate to punch that person's lights out," was the immediate reply. He noticed how the slight tension in Jack's shoulders disappeared and gave him a soft smile. "Had to deal with transphobic assholes too?"

"Ehh, something like that. More like transphobic family members..."

Hiccup held a hand out, which Jack took with a surprised look. "I'm sorry you've had to deal with that. If anyone tries that with you I will absolutely make sure to turn their intestines into garters."

That made Jack let out a surprised laugh. "A bit extreme, but very much appreciated. So you're okay with me being trans then?"

"Jack, I honestly don't care about what a person has in their pants. I'm not going to say I don't care that you're trans, because that's absolutely a big part of your identity. But I care more about who you are as a person than whether you're trans or cis. I mean, of course it's important to know, but I mean that it's not a big deal--wait, am I just digging myself into a deeper hole?"

Jack couldn't stop laughing and he gave a very sheepish Hiccup's hand a squeeze. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. And I really do appreciate it," he added with a soft smile. "Do you have any big secrets of your own I should know about?"

"Um, not entirely sure? Oh, I got one." He leaned forward a bit with a conspiratory smile. "I did a little bit of modding to the game and added a special program of mine."

"Program?"

"See, rather than a service animal, I have a service  _android_ that I created. He's an AI program that I created when I was a kid, and I don't know how I did it but he was able to grow on his own, even with the pretty basic android that he lived in. Of course, we both grew over time, and he even helped me when I was caught in a fire--that's how I lost my leg. So when I won the chance to be a beta tester, I knew I couldn't play this without him." He suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly. "I know it sounds weird, but he's more than just a program or a robot. He grows, adapts, changes. He's my best friend."

"I dunno, I'm starting to feel like I'm being upstaged by a robot," Jack teased. "In all seriousness though, that's incredible, Hiccup! Have you patented it yet?"

"I'm working on it. I'm trying to keep it quiet though, because I know everyone and their mother would want to get their hands on Toothless."

"Wait, that's one of your allies on your info, isn't it?"

He grinned. "He's the mod that I added to the game. His android body is that of a dragon I designed, so when I connected him to the game, he manifested as a dragon. He's outside of the village because he'd probably scare everyone away. He's also the reason why I look the way I do," he added with a tap to an ear fin. "I chose the draconic bloodline as to why I have magic powers, and the game adapted so that Toothless is the one who blessed me."

Jack looked at Hiccup in awe. "That's...that's _amazing._  Man, I almost feel like you're getting the short end of the stick with me!"

"Come on, you're amazing! I wouldn't have nearly enough patience to work with kids like you do, and I know if I was in a classroom there'd probably be a dead body--my own! If we're going to be dating, no boyfriend of mine is allowed to sell himself short."

He felt his cheeks flush at Hiccup's confidence and he smiled wide. "Thanks, Hiccup. Are your parents okay with you having a boyfriend?"

Hiccup's face went deadpan. "My dad's married to my mom but is also in a longterm relationship with my godfather. When I came out as panromantic all three of them bought me a cake that said 'congrats on the queer' rather than the congrats on the sex cake meme. My friends couldn't stop laughing. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up too," he added, watching Jack nearly fall out of his chair laughing. "It was covered in edible glitter too."

Eventually Jack pulled himself back up, wiping his eyes between giggles. "I thought my mom's reaction when I came out was priceless! She gave me a first birthday card for a boy and got me a cake with a number one candle!"

"At least that was sweet! My parents and godfather are just asses!" He couldn't help but laugh though. "Sounds like it's going to be a  _very_ interesting relationship for us."

"Definitely! We should figure out a way to keep in touch outside of the game too," Jack added happily. "Maybe we can ask the game devs if we can get each other's numbers!"

"Great idea! That way we could try doing maybe Skype calls so we can actually see each other without the in-game perks."

"Skype? Seriously?"

"Oh thank Thor, someone who doesn't use Skype."

"Who the hell would use it still anyway? It's clunky and outdated. Discord's so much easier."

"Right?! And you can do so many fun things with it too, like create your own emojis and such. We'll have to trade tags then too."

"You  _have_ to come down and visit me in Burgess though, while the Amish may be crazy people their food is some of the best I've ever had. Not counting my mom's of course!"

"Yeah, Mom can't really cook, she'll flat-out admit it. Dad and Gobber--he's my godfather--are the main cooks, really."

"...Gobber?"

"I don't do the story justice, I just know it had to do with a turkey. If you want the full story you'll have to ask him. Or you can ask him how he has a hook for a hand and a pegleg instead, he always goes over the top with that one!"

"Man, I thought _my_ family was weird."

* * *

Hiccup lay sprawled on his bed in his dorm, staring up at the ceiling. He was lucky, because he needed some extra accommodations bathroom wise he was awarded a single dorm with its own bathroom. Thus, no annoying roommates to bother him. Toothless the android was curled up on his charging pad, the spines along his back glowing a soft blue that would grow stronger as he continued to recharge. The program had been having a ball exploring the wilderness of the game.

In Hiccup's hand he clutched his phone in a white-knuckle grip. He had taken the first step, messaging Jack after getting the number from a mischievously-smiling Cynzia. Now all he had to do was wait for a response.

And it was killing him.

"Argh!" He rolled over and grabbed his pillow to bury his face into it. Toothless opened an eye to observe. "He's probably busy, it's nothing to get all worked up over!"

_Bzzt bzzt._

He pounced on his phone. Toothless snorted and closed his eye again.

**_Hey! Sorry I didn't respond sooner, my phone had died! My fault lol._ **

_It's fine, been there. This is still pretty odd I have to admit._

**_Yeah, I guess. But good odd right?_ **

_Of course! :) so, now what?_

**_Do we send each other a selfie?_ **

_Are you okay with that?_

In response he received a picture message, and the selfie took his breath away. Jack had the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen, with silver-rimmed glasses that did nothing to hide their beauty. His face was angular but not overly so, it made his hands itch to sketch it, from the slight curve of his cheeks to the slope of his nose to that gorgeous million-watt smile that threatened to blind him. His hair was a lovely chestnut rather than silver-white, and there was a dimple in a cheek caused by the mischievous crook to his lips.

Gods he had it bad.

**_Not my best I'll admit lol_ **

_Hang on dying_

**_Was my face that bad? ;p_ **

_I'm pretty sure da Vinci would beg to paint your portrait_

**_Oh come off it, you're exaggerating_ **

_Nope. I'm dead, you're too beautiful for me_

**_Please! Come on, send me a selfie! I wanna see if you're as cute out-game as you are in-game!_ **

It took Jack a few minutes to finally receive it, and when he did his heart did a pirouette off a handle. He knew Hiccup was handsome judging by his avatar, but actually seeing him was something else entirely. For one thing, the horn-rimmed glasses gave him an endearing hipster look, and then there were all those adorable freckles! He felt a sudden urge to kiss them all. And his eyes, they were a bewitching shade of green and seemed to penetrate his core. There was a tiny scar on his chin too. He'd have to ask about that.

Jack sighed and stared dreamily at his phone. **_Dear god you're gorgeous_**

_Now you're flattering me_

_I' **m serious! You're so handsome and I'm so fucking gay**_

_LOL thanks, but I think you beat me at the handsome game_

**_What no you're clearly cuter than me_ **

_I will fight_

**_I'm gonna punch your lips with my lips_ **

_That's kinky_

There was a pause that had Hiccup worried for a moment until Jack responded.  ** _Sorry, I fell off the bed laughin_ _g_ _a_ _nd_ _my roommate asked me what the hell happened_**

_I didn't think that was how I'd sweep you off your feet ;3_

**_Were you planning on using your dragon tail instead?_ **

_Only in the game, I'm not *that* obsessed as to have a working one_

_**Lol suuuure you aren't ;P**  
_

_Hey, be nice or no kisses_

**_Ack! My greatest weakness!_ **

Hiccup giggled to himself and kept texting Jack, finally dropping off to sleep at the witching hour with a smile on his face and phone still in hand. He had no way of knowing that Jack had fallen asleep the same way.

* * *

 

_System updating_

_Processing_

_Error 915: Unknown anomaly found. Commencing operation Discontinue Unwanted Server Tampering._

_E-e-e-error--error 942--P22--580--666--707--_

**_Lockdown initiated._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, things are starting to get a little...tricky here. Just what exactly is going on in this game? Will our heroes be able to survive? Are they ever going to kiss? Who are we kidding, of course they're going to kiss. It'll take a bit of course! But, what just happened at the end?


	6. Day 6: Enter

_I don't know you, but I need more time  
_ _Promise me you'll be mine_  
_Birds are flying over Europe skies,_  
_Tell me please why can't I?_

Hiccup grumbled and groped for his phone, answering the call. "I swear to Odin, Snotlout, if you're calling me on a Saturday morning for another of your macho contests I'm going to slingshot you into the ocean."

_"Whoa, I'd pay to see that, but you sound super cute all grumpy and sleepy~"_

"...You're not Snotlout."

_"Honestly, if you gave me that as a pet name I think we'd have to break up."_

"J-Jack!" Hiccup bolted into a sitting position on his bed, scrambling for his glasses. "Sorry, wow, I didn't even check my caller ID or anything--Snotlout's my cousin, honestly we all have weird nicknames, but I promise not to give you one!"

A lighthearted laugh bubbled through the receiver.  _"It's fine, pleasured moan~ sorry if I woke you up though. I was wondering what you were up to is all!"_

"Nothing planned, except for finishing up a paper on Toothless for review. It's early but hopefully he'll be the path to my doctorate."

_"Give them a sweet smile and that'll do it."_

"Flatterer." He yawned with a chuckle as he headed to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. "You have any plans?"

_"Just some homework and studying. I can't jump into the game again for the next few days, I have a test to study for. I wanted to let you know in case you were thinking of jumping in without me."_

"Please, why would I jump in without my boyfriend?" Hiccup felt a giddiness rush through his stomach at the word even as he rubbed the last vestiges of sleep from his face. "What's the test on?"

There was a sudden passion in Jack's voice at the question.  _"Child psychology! I told you about how I was a double major in both education and psychology right? I'm taking this really interesting class right now that's called ADHD: Everyday Strategies for Elementary Students. We're pretty sure that Sophie has ADHD or if you've been keeping up with recent studies the inattentive type of ADHD, since there are three different types--inattentive, hyperactive-compulsive, and the combo type--so when I saw this course was offered I thought that it would be a great elective as part of my psych major! I'm really interested in abnormal psychology too, I want to be able to tell if a kid's got something going on and be able to help them out. I'm thinking of specializing in elementary education, but I think middle school would be interesting! High school kids kind of scare me though, have you seen some of those kids? Taller than me and can probably bench five of me!"_

Hiccup managed to avoid snorting toothpaste when he laughed, taking care to pull his phone away from his mouth so that Jack didn't hear him spitting it out. "Come on, you can't be that much of a toothpick!"

_"I have a stupidly high metabolism, so I'm like a hundred thirty pounds soaking wet. My little sis still holds a grudge against me for beating her at a pie-eating contest and then not putting on any weight from it whatsoever."_

"You're going to have to send me a proper picture of yourself then so I can judge for myself."

_"Ooooh, does that mean you're gonna send me one too, mister blacksmith? Bet you have gorgeous rippling muscles~"_

The brunet felt himself blush at the purr in the other's voice. "I-I mean, I'm pretty lean, I'm not really all hulked out or anything. I used to be called a fishbone as a kid," he confessed with a self-aware laugh. "But I did actually end up doing some sports!"

_"Sportball?"_

"No, not quite. I took up snowboarding and rock climbing, and my friend Heather convinced me to go into liberty riding so there's that too."

Jack whistled softly.  _"Snowboarding's awesome, we'll have to go one day. What's liberty riding?"_

"It's where you basically ride bareback and without any tack whatsoever. Heather and her brother Dagur own the Riding Berserk stables, and they only use halters anyway and never full bridles with bits or horseshoes--they damage the horses' mouths and feet too much. Her stables only practice liberty riding with very few of their horses that can be trusted for it though since it can be dangerous if neither horse nor rider is trained enough for it. It's also only for competitions. The only equipment we use for liberty riding is padding to protect the horse's spine and helmets--you wouldn't believe how stupid some people are who think they can ride without helmets."

_"Yikes. That's just asking for trouble. What horse do you ride?"_

"My horse is actually a really sweet and shy gelding named Thornshade. He's a silver-gray Cleveland Bay, and I'm one of the only riders he's comfortable with. He's only allowed to be ridden by experienced riders because of how shy he is, but he sort of took a shine to me one day, I was in the paddock looking at the different horses with Heather and then next thing I know Thornshade is nosing at my pockets! I'll have to send you pictures one day."

 _"Wow. You must have legs to_  die _for!"_

"Well,  _a_  leg if you want to be pedantic," Hiccup joked.

 _" Come on, you gotta be pulling my leg!"_  Jack laughed at the groan he got in response.  _"_ _How about we trade, full-body selfie for full-body selfie? And how tall are you?"_

"I'm 6 foot 2."

_"What the fuck, you giant! I'm only 5-8!"_

"I can probably pick you up, you know~"

_"Come on, this isn't fair! You're smart, sexy, tall, what don't you have?"_

"I don't know about sexy, but I'm dating you now, so I think I have everything I need."

There was silence for a few seconds before an embarrassed whine drifted out of the receiver.  _"Hiccuuuuuup, that's not fair! You're not allowed to be so smooth!"_

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh, rubbing the back of his head and shuffling a bit. "I'm surprised about it myself! I'm not usually smooth. I dated my friend Astrid for a bit and on our first date I fell into the river."

_"You did what?"_

"I fell into the river. In March. The day after a blizzard."

 _"Oh jeez..."_ There was a moment of silence before Jack spoke again.  _"I actually fell into a pond when I was 17."_

"Oh?" Hiccup didn't prompt anymore as he went to make coffee--Biohazard of course, more caffeinated than Death Wish which was perfect for him. He wanted to know more, but he didn't want to push Jack into something he didn't want to talk about. The cautious pause on the line was enough indication.

It took Jack a minute to collect his thoughts properly.  _"My sister and I had gone out skating, there's a local pond that's always had really thick ice near the edge, and we always stayed away from the deep part of the pond. This time though, the ice was thinner than we expected...Emma--she's my sister, the ice started cracking under her, and I was able to use a stick to get her away from the cracked spot."_

"...I'm glad you're okay."

 _"Heh, thanks. Almost didn't make it, but luckily Aster--he's my best friend--was able to get me out before it was too late. Had to recover from hypothermia, and I'm still iffy about swimming in anything deeper 8 feet. But!"_  Jack's voice turned chipper again.  _"I'm not afraid of ice skating anymore! Which is good since that would be a really nice date idea!"_

Hiccup couldn't help the quiet chuckle. "True. Snowboarding with you would be fun too though. And if you ever visit me up in Maine I could introduce you to Thornshade and some of the other horses!"

_"That'd be awesome! My sister would get so jealous of me, she's still kind of in her crazy horse phase. Seriously, why is it that we all have different phases? I had an astronaut phase, Emma's got her horse phase, what about you?"_

"Dinosaurs, but also dragons," he admitted with a laugh. "I've stuck with dragons my whole life, especially after becoming a full-fledged witch. While I work with Norse traditions mainly, I also use dragon magick."

_"So, out of curiosity, does all that really work? Spells and stuff?"_

"Think of it this way, Jack. Spells are just ways you ask a higher power for help. Those of monotheistic faiths like Christianity do the same thing with prayer. Prayers are just another name for spells."

_"...Huh. Didn't think of it that way. I may start doing some casual research into religion now, that's pretty interesting!"_

"Isn't it? Dare you to tell a nun that though."

_"Oh hell no, you do that."_

"I did."

_"What happened?"_

"I got thrown out of the church and my dad couldn't stop laughing at the fact I tried to tell that to a Catholic bishop."

_"What!"_

"It was an open Bible discussion and I was in high school researching religions, it's not  _my_  fault they don't like people pointing out the truth!" He grinned as Jack's laughter rang in his ear. "I'm pretty sure I'm banned from ever attempting to enter Catholicism."

 _"You're a damn heretic and I love it."_ Jack's smile could be heard in his words.  _"You'd either be in Dante's Sixth Circle or the First, I can't decide which."_

"I don't know, you're beautiful enough to be an angel, maybe you were sent to save me," Hiccup flirted. It came out smooth, but Hiccup was flushing a bright pink at his own daring even while he stirred a bit of sugar into his coffee. Toothless, wandering in from the bedroom, was staring at him in unabashed amusement.

Jack whined.  _"You need to stop that, how am I supposed to sweep you off your feet if you keep trying to do it to me?"_

"I'm going to be honest, I'm pretty much winging it, so I'm glad it's actually working!"

_"If that's you winging it then I'd probably jump right in your bed if you worked at it."_

"If I worked at it, it would probably be terrible nerdy pickup lines. Something like can I Slytherin to your Chamber of Secrets or something awful like that."

_"Pffthaha! Please tell me you didn't try it!"_

"Nope, my cousin Snotlout did though. He got a solid right hook for it too."

_"One day you'll have to tell me the background for those nicknames."_

"I save that for the third date, my dear."

_"Ugh, fine. At least we can go on dates in the game. It's not really the same though."_

"No, no it isn't...but one day."

_"Yeah...one day."_

* * *

_March 15th, 20XX_

When Kayley entered the set of offices that had been classified as Aetherium's domain, everything seemed to be in order. Cynzia was brewing their daily coffee, Tini was scanning reports, Charlotte was asleep on the couch, and their office dogs Rocket and Marshmallow Toes (Mallow for short) were playing tug of war with their favorite rope. Princess the calico cat was lounging on the windowsill basking in the sunshine. "What's new pussycats?"

"Not much," Cynzia said while they filled their mug. "Char was here early to look at the system, apparently there was an update due to some unauthorized mods to the game."

"Oh? Gimme. Ow!"

"Wait for me to add more water you numbskull. A few of the winners are slick enough with programming to add their own modifications. Hiccup and Hiro both connected their own programs to the game. Now it's no surprise that Hiro added Baymax, but Hiccup also connected a program that's designed to be his service aid regarding both mental and physical health. The program, Toothless, resides normally in an android body that he built himself and has other bodies to inhabit. Toothless has made himself quite at home in the game." They grinned a bit. "He took on the form of a dragon to match Hiccup's draconic mage."

Kayley pouted a bit while rubbing her wrist where Cynzia had smacked it lightly with a spoon. "Well, no wonder the game needed to update. We'll have to go over the security protocols then to make sure we don't have any other unwarranted mods to the game." Her gaze softened. "Are you okay though? Especially with Hiro and Baymax in there?"

A haze crept across the other's eyes and they looked away, focusing on spooning sugar into the mug. "Of course. It's not like he even knows about me. Things never got that far in the first place."

"Don't you think you should bring it up at some point? He deserves to know."

"He never even saw me at the funeral. That's fine. I'm not going to drudge up painful memories for either of us. I'd rather leave his memory in peace. And if Hiro can enjoy this game, then that'll be my gift to him, as anonymous as it is."

"Cynzi--"

"Kayley,  _enough_." The bottle of creamer slammed onto the counter. "Leave it in the past where it belongs. I'm going into the game to check on things in person. Don't disturb me." They grabbed their mug and stormed off to their section, yanking the curtains to block themselves off.

Tini raised their eyes to glower at a chagrined Kayley. "That was stupid."

* * *

"Jack!"

"Hiccup!" The rogue ran to the other and laughed when he got scooped into a hug so tightly that his feet left the ground. "I didn't keep you waiting for long, did I?"

"Nah, only for like ten minutes." He sneaked a kiss to the other's cheek. "How'd that test go?"

"Great! I think I got an A on it!" Jack looked very proud as he felt solid earth under his boots again. "How about you, how're your classes going?"

"I've been working on a new program for prosthetics, I've got it almost perfected to the point that it'll move just like you would a normal foot with your mind, but there's still a two-second delay I have to figure out," Hiccup replied with a scratch to his cheek. "I have my professor looking it over, since the original program was his. The assignment was to pick out of a selection of basic programs he had and then modify it. So I'm almost done! If I can get this delay gone, then I may have a patent in the future that'll help amputees!"

Jack just stared at the other in unmitigated awe. "Good Lord almighty, Hiccup, you're doing some wonderful things, aren't you?"

The brunet blushed and stared at the ground with a shy smile. "Well, I-I guess. I just went through a really hard time after I lost my foot, and I want to help anyone else who ends up losing a limb. If my work makes life easier for them, then that's all I need." He saw the look on Jack's face and took the other's hand in his. "But hey, I'm doing work behind the scenes. You're the one who's going to be doing a job even more important than mine."

"Oh really? And what's that?"

"Teaching. You're going to be helping all those kids learn and be ready for the world. I could never do that. I'm way too impatient," he admitted with a laugh. "I already know that you're going to have all those kids loving you, and they're going to actually look forward to your classes because you make it fun and exciting for them to learn. You're going to be an amazing teacher, Jack."

Jack turned bright red and he looked away with his own smile, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Th-thanks, Hic. You sure you're not trying to butter me up?" he teased with a nudge.

Hiccup laughed and nudged him back. "No, not at all! Just telling you the truth~ so, how about we go check out another job for us and get a couple more levels before we take on a bigger quest? I'm betting that once we get to something like level five we'll unlock our respective questlines or something of the sort."

"Oh no, you're not going to leave me that easily! We quest together or not at all!"

"Hahaha, alright, alright! Clingy~"

And so it was that the two soon found themselves riding with a halfling by the name of Nick O'Dyle, Purveyor of Knick-Knacks, having been hired on as escorts to Nuxvarr, a town a full day's ride away. While Nick's wagon was pulled by a couple of griffins, Nick himself was a halfling with fiery red hair and an auctioneer's speech pattern. "Oh, yeah, Nuxvarr's a decent 'nough town, good for trade!" he shot out with a cheerful laugh. "But it's 'xactly 'cause of the trade what attracts bandits, they're always lying in wait for incoming travelers or traders, makes ya need ta go anywhere wit' at least one strong protector! Aye, I'm sure you two'll do the tick just fine!"

Hiccup and Jack looked at each other to ascertain that they were still whole after the barrage of words. "So how would you describe Northby then?" Hiccup ventured.

"Nice little stopover town, good for stocking up on natural stuff, potions an' the like. Ah, but mark my words, once I have enough capital set aside I'll be asking Miss Mander if she'd accept a humble man such as I!"

"Awww, you got a crush on her~?" Jack teased. Hiccup nudged him with a shooshing motion. The silver-haired rogue only shrugged innocently.

Nick on his part had blushed a bit, causing the dark green of his eyes to stand out even more. The slight point to his ears twitched. "Well, just a bit. But she hasn't gone and accepted anyone who's tried to woo her, so maybe I'll have a better chance!"

"We helped her just the other day with a Scorpiosprite hive in her mushroom garden," Hiccup said. "Took us a bit but we got rid of them easy enough."

"Ugh, pests! Tell ya what, we get to Nuxvarr safe and sound and I'll give you two a complete Animals of Aetherium guide. It'll tell ya what to look out for."

"That'd be great! Thank you!"

The trio spent the trip to Nuxvarr talking mostly, breaking once for a quick lunch and to give the griffins a rest. Of course there were the bandits that tried to waylay them, but Hiccup and Jack took them out fairly quickly. When they reached Nuxvarr, a larger town than Northby with an open-air market in the middle and a set of docks for the lake the town sat along, the two had gained another level. "Alright, boys, thanks for your help! Here you are, one Animals of Aetherium guidebook, and a nice sack of coins for your trouble! Once I sell all these goods I'm going to start pressing my suit." Nick pointed at the nearby inn. "You'll want to stay there, is your best bet. They always got jobs, and it's the cleanest one in town."

"Thanks so much!" The two waved Nick off as he headed toward his little store in the market, after which Hiccup looked to Jack. "How about we check it out?"

"Sounds good. Let's go!" Jack grabbed his hand and led him through the townspeople, the two of them snaking through before slipping inside the entrance. They checked in with the host, a cheerful gnome that said he'd make sure they had a room for them (complete with one bed and accompanied with a bawdy wink that made them blush), before pointing out the quest board. In front of it were three people gathered in a clump. Notification bubbles indicated they were also players.

 _Voyagerofthe7Seas_  
_Level 2 Witch, Water Genasi_  
_Allies: DontCare4Fairytales, FloatingLights321_

 _DontCare4Fairytales_  
_Level 2 Ranger, Human_  
_Allies: FloatingLights321, Voyagerofthe7Seas_

 _FloatingLights321_  
_Level 2 Bard, Elf_  
_Allies: Voyagerofthe7Seas, DontCare4Fairytales_

Jack tugged Hiccup along over to them. "Hey there! Enjoying the game?"

The three turned around, all of them with feminine features. The human grinned as they brushed carmine curls out of their face. "Yep! It's been fun so far," they drawled in a thick Scottish alto drawl. "I'm Merida, she/her."

"Rapunzel, she/her too," the blonde elf chirped as she reached out to shake hands.

The genasi added, "I'm Moana, she/her as well."

"I'm Hiccup, he/him."

"Jack, he/him. Trying to pick another quest?"

"Yeah, but it's hard to pick one out," Rapunzel confessed as she turned back toward the board. "A lot of them are higher than our level, so we were deciding whether we should try any or not."

Hiccup moved closer and looked at the different postings. "Hm, well, if we combine our strengths as a group then maybe we can complete some of these together?"

Merida shrugged. "Why not? Better than working alone and dying 'cause you're too stubborn to ask for help." She offered a fist, which both Hiccup and Jack bumped. Little dings from all five of them alerted them to the new alliances made. She looked back toward the board with hands on wide hips. "So! Which one should we do?"

Jack wormed his way in front of Hiccup and said, "Leave it to me." He closed his eyes before jabbing at a random paper. "This one!"

Moana leaned closer, allowing Jack to get an up-close view of the cerulean shade of her skin. He leaned out of her way only to bump into Hiccup. Not that the draconic mage seemed to mind. "Huh," the genasi said aloud. "Destroy the bandit stronghold and release Nuxvarr from their tightening grip. Doing so will open multiple paths and allow you to establish Nuxvarr as a main hub. Do either of you two have a map? Ours got destroyed." Rapunzel blushed.

Jack pulled his out and held it up against the wall with Merida's help. A bright blue dot marked their current location, and there was a purple spot indicating where Northby was as well.

Hiccup tapped on the little blue dot. "It's almost perfectly center in Aetherium. It'll be a good place for us to branch out from. Plus, the more of these quests we do, the bigger and more prosperous the town will be. We may even open up an entire questline for us based on taking Nuxvarr from a simple trading town to maybe some kind of kingdom."

"Aww, look at you being so smart~" Jack cooed at him with fluttering lashes, "I just might swoon!" The brunet blushed while the girls giggled. Jack simply grinned before looking at the rest of the board. "I think you have a point though, Hic. It looks like if we complete more of these lower-level missions, we'll open something up. Wouldn't mind being a king, I'll admit. Can't you just see me on a throne with a crown, having the people take care of my every whim."

"Not even if you were the only heir to the throne."

"Wow, and I was going to make you my queen."

"Flattered, but I think you'd fit more the role of court jester."

A light clearing of a throat caught their attention. Rapunzel was looking between the two in confusion. "Are you two...dating? Courting? Fonduing?"

Merida lost it and had to support herself on her knees, Jack was snickering, Moana was giggling, and Hiccup just looked confused. "Well, we're dating, yeah, but fonduing?"

The blonde blushed. "I heard it from the Captain America movie! I'm still catching up on pop culture, so shush."

Hiccup rolled his eyes while the other three tried to controlled themselves. "Well, once those three are done laughing, we'll head out."

Before they headed out they made sure their packs were filled with rations and potions while they caught up on the local gossip. Upon heading out of the town Merida opened up a local map that detailed the lake that Nuxvarr was on and its surrounding lands, including the town they were leaving. "Okay, so it looks like that lake is Trelf Reservoir. There's a lot of fish trade, and since it's freshwater there isn't too big a dependence on wells or rainwater. Did anyone find anything out?"

Three of them shook their heads. "I stopped at the apothecary," Moana piped up. "The owner said his son was in the bandits, but it was to protect their stores. If you work for the bandits, you're allowed to keep your family's business from being affected. He said to wait at this spot and his son will be there at moonrise, in case anyone answered the post he had put anonymously in the inn."

"Oh, brilliant!" Merida gushed. Moana flicked her thick blue-black hair over her shoulder with a preening sort of smile. "Alright, let's go!"

There was silence for a bit as they walked, until Rapunzel gently cut through it. "So, Hiccup, Jack, did you guys meet in the game or...?"

Jack grinned. "Yeah, we met in Northby, we did a mission where we had to get rid of a hive of Scorpiosprites for a druid named Sally Mander. She was nice, but those Scorpiosprites are nasty buggers! And their queen was awful!"

"She shot acid at us," Hiccup added. "Mind, we were in a garden of mushrooms so it felt like a druggie pun. But after that we sat down and decided to give long-distance dating a go. The game is helping it seem less of a distance than it actually is."

Rapunzel clapped with a smile. "That's so sweet! My boyfriend and best friend are in the game somewhere, but I haven't been able to find them yet. We're from Corona Community College--Triple-C! It's in southern California. What about you?"

"Berk University in Maine."

"University of Burgess in Pennsylvania."

"I'm in Mass," Merida groaned. "American International College. Good place, but I just want mum to relax! I'm an exchange student from Scotland," she tacked on with a bit of a grin. "She gets a wee bit panicky, but she's not being as insistent with check-ins as she used to be!"

Moana laughed and added, "I know that feeling! It took me forever to get my dad to calm down when I was around boats! I'm at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, marine biology major. Oh, wait--isn't that the oak tree?"

Jack noticed the red ribbon wrapped around a branch. "It is! The note said the one with a red ribbon marked it!" He ran ahead and scurried up the tree nimble as a squirrel. "Alright, I'll be right back, guard my body." He closed his eyes as he leaned back against the trunk, but when he tried to wake up there was a slight jolt that ran down his spine. He blinked and he was still in the game. "Huh?" He closed his eyes, and this time he saw against the back of his eyelids two words.

_Access Denied._

* * *

Cynzia hummed as they watched the immense globe slowly spin in front of them. It marked each player's location in the game and their status as little blue dots. If they wanted to, they could also use the globe to speak directly with or even travel to a player. But those weren't what concerned them. No, the bright red dots that continued to pop up at a slow yet steady rate had their attention. Those glaring dots were anomalies that had their hackles raised. "Hackers."

It was no secret that the technology used for this game was another of the latest and greatest from Altea Technologies. Hiro Hamada had agreed to allow the company to examine his technology and they had both signed a contract where any work made on his headsets that led to profit would also mean that Hiro would receive royalties. Some of that, Cynzia knew, would also go directly to the Tadashi Hamada Health Scholarship fund. Just remembering him set a pang through their heart.

Enough of that. Back to the matter at hand. Even as they watched, another red dot popped into being. "Damn it," they hissed. "I have to let Allura know, I'm sure at least some of them are from Galra Inc. And I'm sure there are some black market dealers itching to get their hands on this product." Altea Tech was still doing research on just how far the headsets could go. They could definitely have medical application, possibly allowing a person to go as far as inhabit a nanobot and do microscopic surgery without cutting a patient open. But there was also the fear that the headsets could be used to access classified databases. Regular computers could be utilized just fine. How much would these headsets help?

Still, the headsets were a boon overall, just like how 3D printing was an amazing thing even while people went and made machetes with them or whatever crazy weapon they decided. Running a hand through their hair (long and copper in-game for maximum elf aesthetic), they opened up a chatroom to connect with Tini. "Hey babe."

The response was near-instantaneous. _"Hey babe. Anything of interest?"_

"Trouble in Aetherium. I'm seeing more anomalies popping up. Could either be modifications like what Hiccup and Hiro did, or hackers trying to get into the game and use this technology for their own purposes."

_"Shit. They're not going to get anything out of these headsets, right?"_

"Yeah, these are only meant for virtual reality. And hopefully Alfor made sure they couldn't be taken apart for reverse-engineering without being completely destroyed."

_"He did. Charlotte took one and tried to, entire thing fell apart when she broke the casing open."_

"Good. We're two weeks into this project, I don't want anything to cause it to fail."

Tini's response came after a moment.  _"Luvvie, I know you want this to succeed, but don't push yourself. Just because you want this to go well for Hiro doesn't mean you should neglect yourself."_

Since it was their soul mate and not Kayley talking, Cynzia allowed themselves to show their true feelings. "I know. Gods, I know. I just, I need this to work. It  _has_ to work. If it doesn't, I won't ever forgive myself--especially if it puts Hiro in danger."

_"He puts himself into danger, just gonna point that out."_

There was a damp chuckle at that. "I know. Artemis help me, Tadashi would have a conniption if he knew just what he was doing. And then make himself a suit to make sure Hiro didn't do anything stupid."

_"Ya know, he's the only datemate of yours that I've approved of. I would've very happily stood by to let you marry him."_

"...Really?"

_"Of course. Not to say that if you don't find another you want to marry that I'd step out of the way, but Tadashi was a good man. As briefly as you were together, he treated you right. Not like all of those awful exes of yours, even if he wouldn't let me beat up that last one of yours."_

"Oh, luvvie, I appreciate it but you don't have to."

_"She treated you like shit and then said you were in the wrong for being upset."_

"You're never going to forgive her, are you?"

_"The day I forgive her is the day I'm no longer me. Now come on home, hon, we need to figure some stuff out with these fuckers hacking in."_

"Give me five." Cynzia blew a kiss at the chat window before closing it. "Beam me home, Scotty."

_"Access denied."_

What? "I said, beam me home, Scotty."

_"Access denied."_

"Why can I not leave?"

_"Operation D.U.S.T. in effect. Lockdown initiated."_

"Administrative override code 19321902."

 _"Access denied, administrative override failed._ "

Ah.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I did a quick cleanup since upon reread I caught a couple of typos. That's what I get for finishing this at 1 am! There's been some delay due to work and also the fact that I put in my notice at work. Call center is *not* for me apparently. But that's okay. I'll find something! Lush is hiring near me, so I'll try that! I do love their products.
> 
> As it is, I do hope you enjoy the direction where this is starting to go! Yes, it's April, but I'm still going to finish this! Tally-ho!


	7. Day 7: Festival

"What do you mean you can't get out?!"

_"I'm saying exactly that. My administrative override failed, there's a game-wide lockdown because of Operation D.U.S.T. People can go in but no one can go out."_

Tini swore and gripped the desk tight enough to turn their knuckles white, looking back up at the video call. Cynzi was staring out from it, looking like someone had taken their puppy away. In a sense, it did. Mallow was next to Tini staring at the screen in confusion. Why wasn't her favorite human outside? The little black and white lab-collie mix looked from the screen back to Tini as they spoke. "So basically DUST fucking broke because of people getting into the game?"

_"Looks like it. I've counted at least ten anomalies. Two I marked as Baymax and Toothless and cleared them. I'm investigating the others, and it's still growing. What I want to know is how did so many people get access?"_

"There's a mole in Altea Tech," Tini snarled. "That's the only thing I can think of. The school has been protected ever since that bastard Callaghan did his shit. So unless someone actually hacked our files in here, which I doubt, then they got in with Altea and got the info and headsets there."

Cynzia nodded and ran a hand through their hair.  _"I'm going to stay in here and do some investigating then. You guys have the medical equipment to take care of my body so I'm not worried about that. What I am worried about are the players. How many are in the game right now?"_

There was a flurry of ticks on the keyboard before Tini groaned. "All of them."

 _"Vaffanculo! That means we have at least a hundred bodies we have to make sure don't die. Get Kayley and start notifying the schools, explain to them exactly what is happening and to start getting everyone to hospitals so that they can be put on life support. Luckily the breathing is fine, we just have to basically keep us all hydrated and fed, and that kind of thing."_ Cynzia groaned and paced back and forth in their comfortable study.  _"Talk about the Ides of March. This is going to be hell to explain to the families."_

"We'll leave that to Alfor, he's the one sponsoring everything. Look, one of the guys in the game is Fred Lee, he's like the universal adopted cousin of a bunch of the sups, I'll see if I can talk to his dad and if he can get us in touch with some of them. Maybe Stark or T'Challa or Banner."

_"Good luck with that. Aren't they off doing some Avenger thing?"_

"Last I heard Captain was on his honeymoon with that soldier guy. What was his name?"

_"Bucky Barnes."_

"Yeah, him."

_"Anyway, better plan, talk to Alfor first and tell him everything. He'll want to have everyone playing the game taken to one location so that he can have us all under observation. I don't want to know what'll happen if we die in-game."_

Tini shuddered and put a hand on the screen. "Take care, luvvie. Be safe. I love you."

 _"I love you too."_ Cynzi kissed their fingers and pressed them to their screen.  _"Give them hell."_

The line cut out. Tini took a shaky breath and pressed their hands to their eyes for a moment. Mallow whined and nuzzled their leg a bit. They couldn't help the slight laugh as they rumbled the dog's ears. "We'll get them back, girl. All of them."

* * *

"Wait wait wait, hang on. You can't leave the game?"

"Nope. Got an access denied. Probably some kind of glitch though. I'm sure it'll be fixed in no time." Jack looked at his currently-upside-down partners in crime. "Hey, come on, we signed up for this remember? Signed those waivers and everything! I'm sure whatever is going on it'll be fixed." A little ding alerted him to a message. "Look at that! We got something now!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and opened the notification. "All players, please be advised that there is a temporary lockdown disabling the ability to leave the game," he read aloud to the rest. "This lockdown occurred due to an influx of changes to the game that weren't cleared by game administrators. No, we don't mean your mod programs that have been recorded Hiro, Hiccup, those have been cleared by us before the lockdown." He blushed as the other four giggled. "We are currently investigating the issue and working hard to fix it. Stay alert, and please try to enjoy the game! We'll have this fixed as soon as possible. If you have any further questions, please send me a message at CrystalDragon224 as I am also locked into the game with you. Happy playing! Cynzi." His eyebrows had climbed higher as he had read on. "Huh. Well then."

Jack pulled himself back up so he was no longer hanging from his knees. "So I guess we're all stuck here. Could be a lot worse."

"How?" Merida drawled with an eyeroll.

"We could be trapped in here by a madman who wants to kill us through varying horrible ways and each one is more gruesome and bloody than the last leaving the last person to commit suicide from insanity." Rapunzel flushed as everyone stared at her in surprise. "What? I read  _And Then There Were None_ before I came into the game!"

Moana shook her head and waved it off. "Barring that, Jack's right. The only thing we can pretty much do is trim the sails and keep our course straight and true. And until moonrise, we really have nothing else to do except to hang out and get to know each other!" The witch dropped down so that her skirts flounced about and settled in an imperfect circle. "And we got plenty of food stored away so we can have like a mini-picnic for dinner!"

Merida couldn't help but laugh as she flopped on the ground, Hiccup settling in a more sedate manner while Jack stayed on the branch and Rapunzel seemed to slide far too elegantly into the lotus position. "Okay, we got nothin' better ta do. Soooo...who's first."

"Ooh ooh me!" Jack waved as he dropped back down to hang from the branch again. "So I'm Jackson Overland, my friends call me Jack and my boyfriend calls me super sickly sweet pet names--"

"I do not."

"--and sometimes my best friend calls me a bloody show pony because I like to do parkour. Once I scaled our school and got on the roof! I'm a sophomore going for my bachelor's degree, double majoring in education and psychology! I also have a super cute fluffy pupper named Snowball, he's a Pomsky! He likes snuggles and snowball fights. I'm also pan on all accounts and a trans man."

Rapunzel raised her hand a bit nervously. "That means you've transitioned from a girl to a guy, right? Sorry if I'm ignorant, I'm still learning a lot about things like that. I grew up really sheltered."

Jack gave her a thumbs up. "You got it. If you have any questions about it you can ask me. What do you mean by sheltered?"

"Oh, well..." She played with one of the braids in her hair shyly. "It's kind of a long and awkward story, but I guess we have time. I wasn't actually raised by my parents at first, I was raised by a woman who had kidnapped me from the hospital when I was a baby. It wasn't until I was 18 and I met my boyfriend Eugene that I managed to escape. I didn't know I was escaping, I lived basically off the grid with her thinking she was my mother, but Eugene and I met when he was running from the police and he ran into the forest to hide. Mother--ugh, sorry, still getting used to changing that--Gothel had us living in the forest so he found our house, and I, uh...dinged him with a frying pan," she confessed with a sheepish laugh.

"But then we managed to get into the city, Corona, and we accidentally ran--literally!--into the Mayor and his wife at the Festival of Lights, which was always held on my birthday by coincidence. And it was like, we knew that we were family. They took Eugene and me aside and they were able to arrest Gothel and Eugene had his criminal record squared away so that he would have to do community service instead of any actual jail time, and Mom and Dad gave him special clearance where his community service was helping me catch up with life outside of my old home!"

Once Rapunzel had finished her story everyone was staring at her with wide eyes. It was silent for a bit except for Jack yelping when he almost fell. "Uh," Moana managed, "that's, an...that's a hell of a story."

Rapunzel nodded, still playing with her braid. "Yeah, but Gothel did too good a job in schooling me, I think it was because if there wasn't some kind of record of me actually being schooled she wouldn't have gotten a tax break with me as a dependent or something like that. And I was way too curious for my own good, but she was..." She shrugged. "Let's just say if I hadn't met Eugene I don't think I ever would have left."

Merida leaned over to pat her leg soothingly. "Well, ye got us now too. And you're in college right? Sounds like you're doing pretty good!"

"Oh yes, and therapy has been wonderful! There was one incident with a friend of mine in group therapy, Varian, but he's doing so much better now! We were finally able to make amends, he's really a sweetheart who's just been hurt so often. And unfortunately I hurt him too at times," she admitted sadly. "It took a long time to make things right with him. But we're much better now, thank goodness! He's even thinking of applying at either SFIT or MIT when he's ready!"

"Good! Therapy's amazing and I really think everyone should do it now and then," Hiccup added with a smile. "Helped me out plenty."

"What did you need it for? If I can ask, of course! I'm sorry, I'm still working on what is and isn't okay to ask."

He waved off Rapunzel's concerns with a smile. "I was 14 and there was a fire in my old house. I had to get Toothless out--my prototype android at the time--but while I was able to basically throw him out of the house I didn't make it out in time. I don't remember much, just the sound of breaking wood and then nothing. According to the doctors some timbers had fallen and crushed my leg below the knee. I was in both physical therapy for my prosthetic and psychiatric therapy for the trauma. I'm pretty good now. Toothless helped."

"Hey, are we ever gonna get to meet Toothless?" Jack chirped from his branch.

Hiccup grinned wide and stood up. "Hang on." He stuck two fingers into his mouth and gave a sharp whistle that rang through the area. Moana and Rapunzel, the two with the most sensitive hearing, winced at the piercing tone. It took less than a minute before a fierce beast bounded through the trees and stopped in front of Hiccup proudly. It was a gorgeous black color with an occasional blue sheen when the light struck just right, and the fins along his jawline and coming off his forehead were similar to that of an axolotl's. Large leathery wings folded against its back as its tail swished back and forth. The bright green eyes gleamed with an intelligence that was unexpected.

The girls stared in awe. Jack fell off the branch.

Hiccup, his fins a mirror image of the dragon's, simply grinned and patted the dragon's head. "Guys, this is Toothless. He's originally a computer program I created as a kid, and further developed over time. His usual home is an android body like a dragon's, so when I patched him to the game he materialized as a dragon as well! It even gave him a special breed name: Night Fury. Pretty cool, huh? Toothless, that's Rapunzel, Merida, Moana, and my boyfriend Jack."

Toothless purred as he nodded toward them.  _Hello._

"It talks?!" Merida yelped.

Toothless rolled his eyes and sat down.  _I'm a computer program, not a mindless animal. Of course I can talk._ The curious thing was that his words seemed to be projected from his mind, rather than being spoken.  _Certainly more intelligent than that foolish robot Sophia._ He even sneered as he spoke.  _Though I will admit, the nursing program Baymax is intriguing. Not as adaptable as I am, but able to perform multiple functions. He makes for interesting conversation._

"You connected with Baymax?" asked Hiccup in surprise.

_What, like it's hard?_

"Did he just quote Legally Blond?"

"Yes, yes he did." Hiccup rolled his eyes as Toothless chortled. "Now that you've met Toothless, any other questions about myself?"

Merida crossed her arms as she stared at the dragon suspiciously. "How're we supposed to just trust that he's not dangerous?"

Both Hiccup and Toothless looked affronted at the idea, while Rapunzel and Jack looked surprised. "I'm sorry, did you just accuse  _my_ pride and joy of being dangerous?"

The redhead held her hand up. "Hear me out. We're stuck in the game, right? How can we be sure that some kind of virus didn't piggyback along with him? Or that Bay-whatever?"

Toothless bristled and growled, showing an impressive set of fangs.  _Like I would allow such inferior programs to latch onto me like desperate lampreys! I've hacked into government systems with fewer firewalls and protections than I have._

"L-let's not go into any possible illegal activities I may or may not have done!" Hiccup stammered, quickly stepping in front of the dragon. "Anyway, he is right in that he's fully equipped and has not a single virus attached to him in his whole career."

Moana was contemplative. "It's a valid point though--not that something came with you, I believe you that nothing came with him," she added quickly. "Cynzia said in that letter we all received that you and Baymax were cleared. So it's neither of them causing the problem. What we  _should_ be aware of, however, is that there is a possibility that something might happen in the future. We should just be careful, since we definitely don't want Toothless to be infected."

The dragon nodded towards her.  _Fair point. Though I highly doubt anything can hack me,_ he added rather vainly.

"Och, and I'm sure that's what the Pentagon thought, aye?"

_The Pentagon is child's play, the true challenge was Wakanda's systems._

"And we're done! Anything else that doesn't have to do with hacking into any government or military institutions?"

"Ooh ooh, ask him about the coming-out cake!"

Merida raised an eyebrow while Jack snickered and settled on the ground between her and Hiccup. The suspicious gleam in her eye still hadn't left but for the moment she was placated. "The what?"

Hiccup groaned and slid back down to the ground, Toothless settling behind him. The dragon still looked disgruntled. "First, my dad's been together with two people for years, married to my mom but also in a relationship with my godfather. My godfather is very gay but he and my mom are best friends. It's like a love angle I guess? Not a triad. Anyway, so in high school I realized that I'm both demisexual and panromantic. When I told my parents and godfather, they got me a cake. A congrats on the queer cake, parodying the congrats on the sex meme." He sat there in deadpan quiet while the others howled in laughter. "And yes, it had edible glitter before you ask. When we get out I'll send you a picture."

Toothless snorted out a tiny little fireball, which hovered in the middle of their circle for a moment before becoming a delightful photo image of two incredibly burly men, one with a dark reddish brown beard taking up half his face and the other with a charmingly long blond mustache, and a beautiful brunette woman not quite as broad as them but still looking like she could bench press a man (which she could), holding up the cake with ridiculous smiles on their faces.  _There you go._

"Toothless!" Hiccup buried his face in his hands as the group completely lost it. "Thank you for nothing, you useless program." Toothless simply laughed harder. "I'm done. What about you, Merida? You're so suspicious of us, you going to open up?" he challenged.

She tossed her hair back with a scoff. "I'm suspicious of a computer program being hacked, not of people." She ignored the grumble from Toothless. "I'm the oldest of 4, I got 3 little brothers. Triplets. Wee devils, more like it, they're Hamish, Hubert, and Harris."

"I am now so glad my mom talked Dad out of naming me Hamish."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "Then there's my dad, 'bout the same size as yours actually Hiccup, but without the bush eating his face. He's got a big nose and a bristly bushy mustache, and he taught me archery and sports. Mum, she tried to raise me to be a proper lady since our family is related to the Crown, but not like we actually have anything to do with them. But when I was 16 Mum and I got into a huge fight, and then we got lost in the woods for a week. One death-defying experience with a bear later, and we actually were able to sit and just...talk, ya know? We hadn't done that in a long time." She smiled then, playing with a bit of grass beneath. "We reconnected again. It was really nice. So we started to work together, instead of being so stubborn. Heh, if not for that camping trip gone wrong I don't think she'd have let me study abroad!"

"I think your mom and my dad would get along on what they want us to be like," Moana quipped with an eyeroll. "It took me  _forever_ to convince him that I could go to uni on my own! We live in a tiny little town called Motonui and he's mayor, so he pretty much expected me to follow in his footsteps."

"Same! Except Da's like a lord slash mayor?? I dunno, but Mum wanted me to go into politics too. I'm still figuring out what it is I want to do, but I don't think it's politics. I did give it a try, so Mum was okay with me saying no to it."

"I am  _definitely_ not very good at politics," Rapunzel added, giggling. "I'm barely able to not embarrass my parents at state dinners! But I've always been passionate about art so that's my major!"

"Huh, never thought about that. I was decent in school but best at physical stuff. Archery, horseback riding, tennis, honestly almost every sport I tried I was great at."

"What if you tried being a phys-ed teacher?" Jack suddenly suggested. Merida looked at him in confusion, to which he shrugged. "It's an idea. But there's a lot of things you could do with sports. Physical therapist, athletic trainer, sports medicine, that kind of thing. Ever thought of that?"

The redhead leaned back against her hands as she looked at the clouds, humming thoughtfully. "Ya know, I hadn't. It's not a bad idea, that! Maybe even open me own gym, with different sports teams! I really like that idea!" She beamed at Jack. "Thanks, mate!"

Hiccup rubbed his forehead with a slight laugh, "So we have three people whose parents are in politics, my dad's Chief of Police while Mom and Gobber are vet partners--though Gobber is also a blacksmith for a hobby, he taught me that too--and I'm going to guess that Jack has, I dunno, a wrestler for a dad."

Jack snorted a laugh. "No, no, not quite, babe. Mom's a writer, and Dad's actually a doctor. My little sister Emma wants to be a doctor like him too, but who knows? Just last month she was planning on getting a ranch."

"Awwww, wee lamb~"

"Yeah, she's adorable." Jack puffed out his chest in brotherly pride. "We're hoping we can go to Philly's Pride Day too this year--she got sick last year and couldn't. The year before that, she kicked an anti-gay rights protester in the nuts and we had to run away."

Hiccup grinned. "I like her."

Rapunzel looked confused. "Why would someone protest it? Love is love, right? I'll admit that I don't know much about my own sexuality except that I love Eugene, but whether or not someone is a boy or girl or something else shouldn't matter."

Moana sighed. "If only everyone else saw it the same way, Punzie. Dad wasn't that happy when I came out as a lesbian, but then Grandma Tala told him off."

"Lesbians unite!" Merida high fived Moana.

Hiccup started to laugh. "Sorry, Rapunzel, looks like you're the token straight!"

"That's okay, I'm already used to that being in theater!" They all laughed, relaxed in their newfound camaraderie.

* * *

Alfor Lyons looked about ready to have a heart attack. "You have got to be joking!"

" _Do you think I would be joking about my partner being trapped in a game?!_ "

Zarkon Koenig put a hand on his friend's arm. "Easy, Alfor. We need to be calm." He waited until his friend's breathing had slowed before speaking. "So you have a mole in your company?"

"It looks like it. Did you send someone in?"

"I would never!"

"Joking, joking," Alfor laughed, even though his palms were sweating from the situation. "I know you would never." The taller man harrumphed but seemed to accept it. Alfor turned back to the screen, where a very pissed off Tini was watching along with Kayley and Charlotte. "Alright, so the problem is that all players are trapped in the game along with Mx. Cynzia, and then there are others who basically hacked into the game that we don't know about, and they're the reason the game is now in lockdown?"

" _The action that would have cleared out the hackers malfunctioned,_ " Charlotte spoke then, being the main programmer of the group. " _I'm still working on tracking down the error, but as soon as I can fix it we'll be able to get everyone out. The problem is that I don't know how long it's going to take me by myself, and I need people that can be trusted to help me. Can you find people for this?_ "

Alfor nodded. "I can get a few people, definitely." He looked at Zarkon, who looked contemplative. "What of you?"

"Well...oh!" Zarkon looked up. "My son, Lotor, is one of the best in computer programming. I'll reach out to him, see if he can help. Do you think you can get in touch with that fool Stark?"

The shorter man snorted a bit. "I'll do my best, but we all know how he is--"

" _Will you get to the fucking point?!_ "

Alfor and Zarkon both jumped at the fury in Tini's voice and looked back at the screen. "Mx. Zarilli, I know you're worried, but you're not the only one who has a loved one in the game," Alfor said softly. The pain in his face made Tini slump a little. "Allura is in there as well, being a beta tester too. And then there are the other five testers from Voltron. We have to figure out how best to move them. So long as the headsets stay on, they should be okay, right?"

Kayley nodded, constantly raking her fingers through her hair and biting at her lip. " _I think so. But we're going to need a place where you can monitor all 100 people, plus anyone else we can find. Anything?"_

"My wife has her own department in my company for her experiments," Zarkon said thoughtfully. "Since she's been doing a lot of work in the medical field lately there should definitely be room for everyone if we keep them in beds."

"Where are we even going to find enough beds and equipment to take care of over a hundred people who are for all intents and purposes comatose?"

"I'm sure there are medical suppliers where we can get it all in bulk, and then after we fix this we get the equipment fully cleaned and donate what we can to hospitals in need."

"Zarkon, we're rich, but not  _that_ rich that we can do that."

"What about the emergency funds?"

"Last year's Easter fiasco took out the majority of them."

"Damn, forgot about that."

"What about the charity funds, we can pull from that and then refill when we can."

"Already budgeted, our boards would have our heads."

"And they're not going to have our heads over this?!"

"Well, unless someone with way too much money and time on their hands comes in we're screwed!"

"Did somebody call for a genius billionaire philanthropist?"

Zarkon and Alfor both turned in surprise to see one familiar and one not so familiar figure walk into the office. Tony pulled his sunglasses off and shook hands with both of them. "Tony Stark, at your service. Great to meet you, but not under the circumstances."

Alfor grimaced. "Agreed. But how did you know?"

The older man next to Stark gave him a grimace. "My son's professor supervising the kids at SFIT contacted us. My name is Stan Lee."

" _Oh gods, you're Fred's dad!_ " Kayley looked ready to panic. " _I'm so sorry about this, sir, we're trying our hardest to get it fixed!_ "

Lee waved it off with a small chuckle. "Don't worry, little lady, you're quite alright. If I know my son, he's probably fit to be tied he's so excited about this. And this idiot," he added with a jab of his thumb toward Stark, "owes me a favor."

Stark sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. So!" He clapped his hands as he looked at the group with the gleam of a mad scientist in his eyes. "Where do we start?"

* * *

"We're free!"

"Praise the gods!"

"Bless our heroes!"

The five stood on a raised platform, bedecked in gifts from the tradespeople as they continued to cheer. Hiccup looked like he wanted to fade into the background, a little difficult considering he was the tallest of the group. Jack, of course, was soaking up the limelight as if he was born into it. Rapunzel looked nervous but excited, and Merida and Moana were the calmest considering all the practice they had. Toothless was being just as much of a drama king as Jack and was preening. Who knew that a computer program could be so vain?

The mayor of the town raised zir hands, and soon enough the crowd calmed down enough for Isaz to speak. "Today is a most fortunate day, for it is the day that Nuxvarr has been officially liberated!" Ze waited for the cheers to die down again before continuing. "And we have our fine heroes to thank for that! Henceforth, to honor their bravery and skill, today shall be known as the Festival of Freedom!"

This time, the cheers were deafening. Hiccup flinched a bit and blinked owlishly at the crowd. Music started from nowhere, townspeople were pulling tables and food out of apparent nowhere, and Isaz the tiefling had grabbed an eager Jack to pull him into the sudden space cleared for dancing. Merida grinned at Moana. "Come on!"

Rapunzel noticed how shy Hiccup was looking and giggled, grabbing his hand. "Just a few dances, hm? We have so much to celebrate! We took on a quest that by all accounts we never should have been able to do!"

Hiccup laughed at that and nodded in agreement. Because the quest had been a much higher level than anticipated, they had acquired enough experience to do a drastic jump from level 2 to level 5. Even Toothless had learned a few extra moves. And, he noticed, the dragon was appreciating the fish being given to him as a reward. "Well, alright. I should warn you though, I'm really rusty. I haven't danced since prom, and even then I was missing a foot."

"Don't worry, just move with the music! Let it flow through you~" She laughed joyfully, bare feet making no noise on the ground. It wasn't like anything could be heard. Hiccup looked at the band and laughed. Somehow the creators of the game had come up with instrument designs that were clearly electric, but  _worked_ in this odd high fantasy world. He let himself be pulled into the song, Rapunzel leading him on.

Suddenly he found himself with Moana in his arms, the water witch laughing as he spun her out and then back in. "Having fun?"

"More than I expected! And did I detect you doing some canoodling with a certain redhead~?" he teased.

She turned a dark indigo in her cheeks but gave him a brazen grin. "Not yet, but don't let her know. I'm going to woo her socks off."

"I wish you luck!" There was another turn, another change in partners and this time Isaz was guiding him. It helped that ze was about 8 feet tall with horns that curved up into a near heart shape, with an interesting branch off the curve that almost met each other at the tips. It looked like a heart inside a diamond. "Thank you for this, Isaz. We really didn't need all this pomp and circumstance though."

"Oh, shush," ze said with a low chuckle. "Nuxvarr has been all but under siege by those horrid bandits. This is the least we could do! You are always welcome in Nuxvarr, and I'm sure you'll also get a hero's discount."

He blushed and ducked his head a bit with a smile, glancing up at her. "We're happy to help. Really."

Ze grinned. "By the way, I think someone wants you."

Before he could ask what ze meant, ze had spun him into the arms of a laughing Jack. The rogue's eyes were sparkling in the light of multiple lanterns and colored werelights were making his hair into a rave. "I didn't know you could dance, pleasured moan~"

"Well, normally I'm just one left foot," Hiccup quipped. He grinned as Jack threw his head back with a laugh, finally letting himself relax completely with the rhythm. When the time came to change partners, however, they both sidestepped the other dancers so that they stayed together. "What should we do next?"

Jack hummed as the music slowed down, smoothly changing to something more mellow. They slowed down with it, moving closer to each other. "Maybe get some food, dance some more, then sleep?" His hands lost their grip on Hiccup's only to meet behind the brunet's neck.

Hiccup chuckled softly, his own sliding down to Jack's waist. "And then tomorrow we plan our next adventure?"

"Mhm...but I think we have time for one more quest."

"And what's that?"

"Well...don't the heroes get a kiss after they win?"

"They usually do..."

When Toothless next blinked, it was to take a high-definition snapshot of Hiccup and Jack, holding each other tight while they kissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaaaay I'll admit, I am *not* a fan of Hamish as a name for Hiccup. It just never felt right. But the meaning of Hayden seems quite right for Hiccup! There are three meanings of Hayden: heathen, fire, and "from the hedged-in valley". Being a pagan, he's certainly a heathen, there's his affinity for fire, and the cove where he worked with Toothless can be seen as a small hedged-in valley! See, there's a method to my madness~ and it's also a very nice gender-neutral name, which is why I like using it for modern AUs with Hiccup ouo
> 
> And yes, here is the Voltron involvement! Unlike the show, Zarkon and Honerva aren't going to be irredeemable dicks. They try, they make mistakes, just like everyone does. I wanted to try and explore a different version, where they're still very much like their canon counterparts, except not evil or corrupted by quintessence. Hope yall enjoy this take on them!
> 
> No that wasn't a way to skip over the fighting shhhh

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear readers and welcome to Aetherium! Join us as we step into a fantasy and indulge in the delights of magic, myth, and wonder! And maybe a hint of romance along the way~
> 
> Who are we kidding, there's gonna be plenty of it -wonk- enjoy!


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